Load-shedding to double soon

[Sarensa]

Kulekhani reservoir near empty
Load-shedding to double soon

DHORSINGH, MAKWANPUR, Feb 4 - Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is doubling the load-shedding hours in three weeks as the water level in the reservoir feeding Nepal's only storage type projects, the 60 megawatt Kulekhani-I and 32 megawatt Kulekhani-II, has receded by 30 meters. The remaining water is sufficient for just 20 days, after which both the projects will stop functioning.
"It's inevitable," said Sher Singh Bhat, chief of Load Dispatching Center, Siunchatar. "We will have to consider ourselves lucky if we can manage by just doubling the load-shedding duration."

Nepal is already reeling under 17 hours of load-shedding per week per household.

Barring the two Kulekhani projects, all other hydro-electric projects in the country combined are generating only 180 megawatts, way less than NEA's base load of 225 megawatts, Bhat said. The total installed capacity of the country's grid is 609 megawatts. "With the closure of the two Kulekhani power plants, we will not be able to meet even the minimum demand in the afternoons, let alone peak demand in the evenings."

The Kulekhani projects are designed to generate power during dry season when run-of-river projects cannot produce to capacity because of low water levels in the rivers. Both the projects depend on the same reservoir. The 14 megawatt Kulekhani-III, which is scheduled to go into construction phase this year, will also be dependent on the same reservoir.

Juju Bhai Ranjit, manager of Kulekhani-I, said that there is only 15 meters of usable water left in the Kulekhani reservoir. "Below that is dead water that cannot be used for generation."

The ideal depth of usable water in the vast reservoir that stretches from Kalanki to Markhu in Makwanpur district, is 45 meters, measuring up to 1,530.5 meters above sea level. Logbooks at the Kulekhani-I and Kulekhani-II powerhouses show that the current water level in the reservoir is 1,500.28 meters, 12 meters less than during this month last year. Additionally, the water level in the reservoir is decreasing by as much as 30 centimeters a day, as both the projects are running round the clock to make up for the dipping generation in the run-of-river projects.

The water level at Kulekhani reservoir could not be replenished this year as it had to operate even in the wet season, owing to the breakdown of a turbine at the Kali Gandaki 'A' project. This left the reservoir 10 meters below ideal level even in the wet season. Ideally, the Kulekhani projects are closed during the wet season so that water can be accumulated for use during dry season. Kulekhani-I was commissioned in 1982 and Kulekhani-II in 1987.

Additionally, this year's winter, the driest in 30 years, has seen dipping water levels in the rivers feeding the reservoir. These include the Palung, Chitlang, Sim and Chakhel. None of them are snow-fed.

Bhat said that with the monsoon months away, the doubled load-shedding schedule would last till mid-June. "Had there been any rain last winter, we could have expected snow at the base of the mountains to melt by mid-May, which would have replenished the rivers to a certain extent. But there was no rain last winter."

[RAAZ]

Its started. There's a 5 hour load shading every day. Its really getting difficult. Load shading duration is increasing further in Chaitra.