Kaligandaki 'A' shutdown will not increase power cuts: NEA

KATHMANDU, March 2: Though the Kaligandaki ´A´ Hydropower Project in Syngja has been shut down late Friday for maintenance, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has assured that there would be no additional hours of load-shedding as the deficit would be fulfilled by running Kulekhani storage project in full capacity.

“We will fulfill the deficit caused by “Kaliandaki ´A´ shutdown by running Kulekhani project in full capacity,” Bhuvan Kumar Chhetri, chief of systems operation department of NEA told Republica.

According to Chhetri, NEA will supply 45 megawatts of electricity to the national grid through Kulekhani to limit load-shedding to 12 hours a day. “We have around 1,525 cubic meters of water in Kulekhani reservoir. This water level is five meters higher than the level the previous year,” Chhetri said.

The 144 megawatts Kaligandaki ´A´, which is operating at 60 percent of its capacity, was shut down as all the three intake valves that carried water from tunnel to the turbine have been damaged. “This has caused water leakage,” said project Chief Abdhesh Kumar Singh.

According to Singh, the valves have not been repaired for the last eight years. “All the three intake valves will go for maintenance,” Singh said. “The maintenance work will be completed within 10 days.”

Singh further said more than 200 workers would be at the project site for maintenance of the valves. “We are trying to complete repair works as soon as possible,” Singh said. “We have brought maintenance equipment from Japan.”

The run-of-the-river hydropower project had commenced generating power from 2002.