Completion of construction of the country's largest substation, 1,200 MW of electricity can be imported and exported
Kathmandu: Dhalkebar substation, known as the largest substation in the country till date, has been charged at no load. The substation with a total capacity of 400 KV has been charged at no load since Wednesday evening.
The project has been completed with the investment of the Government of Nepal, design of NEA engineers and consultation of NEA Engineering Company owned by NEA. NEA's former executive director Kulman Ghising congratulated the completion of the country's largest substation and said that significant success has been achieved.
According to NEA, the capacity of the substation is 945 MVA. The bidding process started in the fiscal year 2074-75 and the project was completed in about two and a half years. Although the NEA had set a target to complete the construction last June, the completion of the project has been delayed due to the devastation of Corona. According to NEA, the completion of the project has been delayed due to the lockdown and restraining order issued by the government to control the risk of Corona. The project was completed even during that period due to ongoing work.
The high capacity high voltage testing machine could not be discharged from Kerung for about three months and could not be charged on time. The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, took a diplomatic initiative to deliver the equipment to the project site in Kerung.
The construction of Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur 400 KV inter-country transmission line for power exchange between Nepal and India had already been completed. Due to the same transmission line, it has become possible to easily import the electricity required by Nepal at any time. Although the transmission line has a capacity of 400 KV, the substation has a low capacity, so in the initial stage, only 132 KV capacity was charged. Similarly, in the fiscal year 2075-76 alone, it was charged at 200 KV capacity.
NEA says that the new substation can be brought into operation at the capacity of the transmission line after its completion. A total of 1,200 MW of electricity can be imported and exported from the transmission line and substation. According to Ghising, former executive director of NEA, even though the capacity of the transmission line and substation is equal to 1,200 MW, only 850 MW can be imported and exported for the time being.
Only after the East-West transmission line within Nepal is charged at 400 KV can 1,200 MW of electricity be exchanged from that line. Former Executive Director Ghising also thanked the project staff, construction businessmen and consulting company who worked day and night for the construction of the project of national importance and said that all deserved congratulations for completing the work relatively quickly.
He said, "During my tenure, many attempts to charge were unsuccessful as the high voltage testing kit did not arrive." Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barshaman Pun had taken continuous initiative to complete the project. He had been drawing the attention of the concerned parties every day to take care of the progress of the project and complete the work expeditiously.
For the time being, the substation has been charged at no load, but now the authority is ready to charge and bring it into operation by giving electricity load. Hitendra Dev Shakya, managing director of NEA Engineering Company, a consulting company, said in a conversation with RSS a few days ago that the project was important for them and multi-faceted in terms of learning.
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