During the budget presentation in the parliament on Monday, Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat said that within one year, an additional 900 megawatts of electricity will be added to the national…
During the budget presentation in the parliament on Monday, Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat said that within one year, an additional 900 megawatts of electricity will be added to the national…
The 86-megawatt of electricity generated from the Solukhola Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project has been connected to the national grid. The hydropower project promoted by Sahas Urja Limited had carried out test production since last…
Private hydropower companies incurred losses of more than Rs 1 billion due to the reluctance of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to procure the electricity produced by the private power producers last…
April 21: India's Energy Minister RK Singh has announced that India will buy all the electricity generated from Nepal's hydropower…
April 17: The government has decided to construct the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project with domestic investment after cancelling the contract with China Gejuwa Group Corporation…
April 15: The production of the 70 MW mid-Marsyangdi Hydropower Station located at Besishahar-1 in Lamjung has…
April 14: Nepal’s energy sector had not been able to achieve anything substantial in its 110-year history until the recent developments started showing some promising…
April 7: After negotiations for a long time, India has finally agreed to allow Nepal to export 325 megawatts of electricity to the Indian market on competitive…
April 5: The process of allowing the private sector to trade electricity has been halted due to lack of legislation.…
April 5: The third edition of “Himalayan Hydro Expo 2022” concluded on Monday at the Exhibition Hall in Bhrikutimandap,…
March 25: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has imported electricity from the India’s open market by bidding at the maximum…
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This year, Rs 87.45 billion has been allocated, indicating a budget increase of Rs 12.35 billion for the energy sector's development. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-30', 'modified' => '2023-05-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17754', 'image' => '20230530061714_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-30 06:14:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16993', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Eighty-six Megawatt of Electricity Connected to National Grid', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The 86-megawatt of electricity generated from the Solukhola Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project has been connected to the national grid. The hydropower project promoted by Sahas Urja Limited had carried out test production since last week.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">February 12: The 86-megawatt of electricity generated from the Solukhola Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project has been connected to the national grid. </span></span><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The hydropower project promoted by Sahas Urja Limited had carried out test production since last week. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The electricity has been generated by channelizing water from the Solu rivulet of Solududhkunda municipality-11 to Maikubesi of Thulung Dudhkoshi rural municiplaity-3. </span></span><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The electricity generated from the run of the river-based hydropower project has been connected to the 132-KVA Solu corridor of Lammane sub-station. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The project has connected electricity to the 132-KV transmission line from power house to Lammane. </span></span><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chairperson of Sahas Urja Limited Him Pathak shared the electricity generated from Solukhola Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project has been connected to the national transmission line of the Nepal Electricity Authority after successful test production. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Pathak further said that commercial production would be initiated within 15 days following the connection to the central transmission line. ------RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16732', 'image' => '20230212060035_collage (44).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 05:52:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16503', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Private Sector Incurring Losses Over Billion Due to NEA’s Reluctance to Buy Electricity ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Private hydropower companies incurred losses of more than Rs 1 billion due to the reluctance of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to procure the electricity produced by the private power producers last year. ', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">December: Private hydropower companies incurred losses of more than Rs 1 billion due to the reluctance of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to procure the electricity produced by the private power producers last year. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to Independent Power Producers’ Association Nepal (IPPAN), twenty-seven power producer companies faced losses of more than Rs 1 billion after Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) did not purchase their power last year. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">IPPAN says that NEA was reluctant to buy the power due to overload in transmission line following excessive production of the energy. IPPAN said that it had met with Energy Secretary Dinesh Ghimire and drew attention to the problem facing them. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The work to collect losses incurred by the private hydro power companies is underway. “The work to collect losses of Chepe Khola, Lower Modi, Dordi Khola, Ghalemdi Khola, United Idi Mardi, Buddhabhumi, Upper Syange, among others, is underway”, said IPPAN.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal Electricity Authority signs an agreement with power producing companies on the basis of take or pay and take and pay categories. As per the take or pay agreement, NEA has to procure all the power generated by hydro power company once the project is connected to the transmission line. But, private power producers ink take and pay agreement for short-term due to delay in construction of transmission lines.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">As per the take and pay agreement, the NEA purchases the electricity if need be. It is free not to procure the power as well. “Nepal Electricity Authority’s misuse of the take and pay provision has given trouble to power producers”, said IPPAN Chairman Mohan Kumar Dangi. He blamed the NEA for failing to explore market to sell power.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to Dangi, delay in the construction of transmission lines by the NEA has incurred losses to the some hydro power projects as they have failed to evacuate power to the national grid.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">On the other hand, consumers are facing problem in quality supply of electricity in winter season. IPPAN Vice-chair asked the NEA to construct transmission lines as early as possible and help private power producers to lower the losses. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), however, says problem has arisen as private power producers connect their energy to sub-station other than mentioned in Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">NEA Spokesperson Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai said that NEA had not purchased power due to overload in the system during rainy season. NEA officials say that domestic electricity demand has to be increased for long term solution. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">When asked about the delay in the construction of transmission lines, NEA Spokesperson Bhattrai said, “NEA’s sole effort is not enough for transmission line construction adding “Land dispute, court cases, and social problem arise during the construction of transmission lines and it takes time to resolve them”.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">NEA has been taking eight to nine years to construct a transmission line that is supposed to be completed in two to three years. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-12', 'modified' => '2022-12-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16244', 'image' => '20221212062833_collage (3).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-12 06:24:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15141', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'India’s Energy Minister Pledges to Purchase Electricity from Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 21: India's Energy Minister RK Singh has announced that India will buy all the electricity generated from Nepal's hydropower projects.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 21: India's Energy Minister RK Singh has announced that India will buy all the electricity generated from Nepal's hydropower projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Singh made such announcement on Wednesday while addressing a joint energy meeting of the countries affiliated to the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">So far, India has agreed to purchase 364 MW of electricity from Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Madhu Prasad Bhetuwal, spokesperson of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, India has also announced to buy electricity generated from Bhutan's hydropower projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The announcement by the Indian energy minister has given us further impetus. If that really happens, it will be a great help to Nepal's hydropower development,” said Bhetuwal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">BIMSTEC includes Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The meeting also decided to facilitate electricity trade between BIMSTEC member countries, connect each other's transmission systems (grid) and establish an energy trade centre. A 12-point joint statement was issued after the meeting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the meeting, it was agreed to formulate necessary policy and tariff system for electricity trade between BIMSTEC countries. The meeting also decided to form a committee with experts to plan how to trade electricity between BIMSTEC countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It was agreed to set up a 'BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection Coordination Committee' to connect the grids of BIMSTEC countries. With the support of the Asian Development Bank, the committee will draw up a master plan for grid interconnection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Member countries have agreed to establish BIMSTEC Energy Center. The centre will conduct research on energy, exchange experiences and co-operate among member countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The meeting also decided to make an action plan, prepare the structure and prepare the necessary funds for the operation of the trade centre. It has been said that the centre will be brought into operation in time by making an appropriate action plan, roadmap, structure and working methodology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A meeting of BIMSTEC in 2011 had agreed to set up an energy centre. However, it was not implemented. Now the BIMSTEC countries are committed to implementing it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Everyone has expressed their commitment to implement it. Let's hope it is implemented," said Bhetwal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Addressing the meeting, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal said that the natural resources of BIMSTEC countries should be used as an alternative to energy generated from fossil fuel. “Energy, environment and economy are important sectors for sustainable development. However, we are constantly using fuels that affect the environment. This tendency to create tension in our environment must end now,” she said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In addition, there is a need to further expand economic cooperation among BIMSTEC countries for energy development, she added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Energy Secretary Devendra Karki said that moving ahead with the process of establishing the BIMSTEC Energy Center was a positive aspect. He said that this would help in the development of the energy sector of BIMSTEC countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"It is expected to be a great help in exchanging information and best practices on energy efficiency and non-conventional energy sources," he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He also said that Nepal was making progress in the energy sector. "We have made great strides in providing clean and reliable energy to our people. As a result, 93 per cent of our population has access to electricity,” he said.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-21', 'modified' => '2022-04-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14883', 'image' => '20220421022858_RS_KTM_IMGL6685_04202022.JPG', 'article_date' => '2022-04-21 14:28:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15119', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Government Lacks Modality to Build Budhi Gandaki Hydro Project', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 17: The government has decided to construct the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project with domestic investment after cancelling the contract with China Gejuwa Group Corporation (CGGC).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 17: The government has decided to construct the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project with domestic investment after cancelling the contract with China Gejuwa Group Corporation (CGGC). However, the government does not have the plan and modality to build the 1,200 MW project with domestic investment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Last year, the cabinet meeting had decided to take the Budhi Gandaki project from CGGC and build it with domestic investment. In this case, the government should have a separate plan and modality for how to build the project. However, no plan or modality has been formulated in this regard so far. It seems that the government has decided to take over the project from CGGC only for the sake of popularity.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that this project has been politicized. Some years ago, when the Chairman of the Maoist Center, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, was the prime minister, it was decided to allow CGGC to build the project in the Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Financing (EPCF) model.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Later, when Sher Bahadur Deuba became the prime minister in five years ago, the project was snatched from CGGC. After UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli became the prime minister, it was decided to allow CGGC to construct the project again. Now that Deuba is leading the government again, the project contract with CGGC has been terminated again.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Officials of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation said that it has been decided to build it with domestic investment but no modality has been decided on how to build it.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government said that the decision was made because of legal complications in allowing the CGGC to build the project. The government has also accused the CGGC of delaying construction. Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Energy Chiranjeevi Chataut said that the modality of constructing the Budhi Gandaki project has not been prepared yet. "Currently, it has been decided to take the project away from CGGC and build it with domestic investment. The plan and modalities of how to build it have not been decided yet. We are studying it,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Budhi Gandaki is a big project. It was earlier estimated that it would cost around Rs 300 billion. It is currently being re-evaluated. This project is considered equally risky. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“As it is a big project, the risk of investment is also high,” said Chataut.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The issue of how to raise investment is also challenging. There had been various attempts to raise investment in the past as well. However, they did not succeed. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector also said that the project should be constructed soon. Nepal has been buying electricity at high prices from India in winter due to a lack of adequate reservoir projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A reservoir project is needed to end that situation. On top of that, Budhi Gandaki is technically ready to go into construction. Therefore, the private sector is of the view that the construction of this project should not be delayed.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Other reservoir projects identified in Nepal are in the phase of survey and study. The survey of some projects has not been done as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The work of the DPR of Budhigandaki, approval of the environmental impact assessment report, and distribution of compensation have been almost completed. Now all that is left is to go into construction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector is also ready to invest in it. Chairman of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN) Krishna Prasad Acharya said that the private sector is ready to invest in Budhi Gandaki in partnership with the government. However, he said that the government should guarantee a return on investment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The private sector is ready to invest in the project in collaboration with the government. But, the government should guarantee the return. Expenditure should not be increased as in other government projects,” he said, adding, “If the government does not include investment for the transmission line, compensation distribution, and road construction in the project cost, we are ready to invest.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The issue of the construction of the Budhi Gandaki project is being looked at with utmost importance. Its construction is estimated to cost more than Rs 300 billion. The government had started levying a tax of Rs 5 per liter on petrol, diesel, kerosene, and aviation fuel from the fiscal year 2072/73 for the construction of Budhi Gandaki project with domestic investment. It had been collecting Rs 10 per liter since February 2010.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-17', 'modified' => '2022-04-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14861', 'image' => '20220417055058_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-17 17:50:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15108', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Production of Mid-Marshyangdi Hydropower Station Increases due to Rainfall', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 15: The production of the 70 MW mid-Marsyangdi Hydropower Station located at Besishahar-1 in Lamjung has increased.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 15: The production of the 70 MW mid-Marsyangdi Hydropower Station located at Besishahar-1 in Lamjung has increased. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pawan Basnet, head of the station, informed that the power generation started increasing due to the rise in water level in Marsyangdi River following occasional rainfall in recent days and the melting of snow. He said that only 26/27 MW of electricity was being generated since December, but now, the production has reached 58 to 60 MW. In the previous years, electricity generation used to show an increase only in May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the station, if the production shows an increase in the same manner, it will be able to generate electricity at full capacity within April. Construction of the project started in 2000 and completed in 2008. The hydropower station was constructed at a cost of Rs 27.20 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-15', 'modified' => '2022-04-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14850', 'image' => '20220415121145_marsyangdi590_1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-15 12:10:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15103', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Energy Sector Made Significant Progress in 2078 but Challenges Persist', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Nepal’s energy sector had not been able to achieve anything substantial in its 110-year history until the recent developments started showing some promising signs.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Milan Bishwakarma</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 14: Nepal’s energy sector had not been able to achieve anything substantial in its 110-year history until the recent developments started showing some promising signs. Despite countless challenges, the energy and hydropower sector of Nepal made a significant progress in the year 2078 BS.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stakeholders believe that achievements made in the energy sector in the review year would have long-term implications. Most notably, India has agreed to allow Nepal to trade electricity in its open market through competitive bidding. This, according to the stakeholders, is a historic achievement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Regional market is essential to sell the electricity generated in Nepal. Nepal is already at a stage where its surplus energy gets wasted during the monsoon. In this sense, a regional market for the energy sector of Nepal is of utmost importance. In such a situation, India not only opened its energy market to Nepal but also gave the green signal to Nepal Electricity Authority to sell 364 megawatts of electricity to India. This is a significant achievement, says Kumar Pandey, former chairman of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The energy which is to be produced in Nepal does not have a prospective market within the country. In such a situation, a regional market is vital for us,” said Pandey, adding, “India has granted Nepal permission to sell its electricity in its market. This is a significant achievement of the energy sector.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The operation of 456-MW Upper Tama Koshi Hydropower Project is another significant achievement of the energy sector in 2078.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Besides Upper Tama Koshi, many other hydropower projects came into operation during last year. This has made Nepal almost self-sufficient in energy. There has been a lot of progress but there is still a lot more to do,” added Pandey.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Another achievement is the resumption of Nepal-India Energy Summit which was stalled since the last two years due to Covid-19. The decisions taken during the summit has helped in the development of Nepal’s energy sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba also prioritized the agenda of energy sector during his recent state visit to India. Nepal and India unveiled a common vision paper for collaboration in the energy sector during the PM’s visit. The vision paper states that the energy trade will focus on regional market that includes Bhutan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal (BBIN).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There were also some good news regarding foreign investment in the energy sector during the review year. Foreign investment in this sector was not much encouraging in the last few years but the energy sector saw commitment of Rs 1.59 billion in 2078, which is more than the commitment received in the previous year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In 2077, foreign investors pledged to invest only Rs 5.8 million in the energy sector of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The energy sector has had to face problems ranging from natural disasters to liquidity crisis, increase in insurance premium rate, increase in interest rate among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Due to the liquidity crisis in the banking system, hydropower projects seeking loans have had to pay high interest rates. The cost of project including operational cost has increased due to the increase in interest rate.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">IPPAN Chairman Krishna Prasad Acharya said that the energy sector witnessed some discouraging events despite some significant achievements.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that the energy sector has yet to fully recover from the impact of coronavirus. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The impact of coronavirus which started in 2076 BS is still evident till this year. As a result, many hydropower projects have not been able to start construction. Even the under-construction projects had to stall the works,” said Acharya.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Things have improved only since February,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Another setback is the inordinate delay in granting power purchase agreement for run-over-river (ROR) projects to sell electricity. The government has been providing survey license to the private sector to undertake such projects but is reluctant to purchase electricity produced by the private sector stating that the laws allow them to purchase only a certain portion of energy produced by ROR projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The government promised to allow the private sector to trade electricity and also grant permission for PPA. However, both the promises were not fulfilled,” said Acharya.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-14', 'modified' => '2022-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14845', 'image' => '20220414045734_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-14 16:56:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15058', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'NEA to Export Additional 325 MW Energy to India ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 7: After negotiations for a long time, India has finally agreed to allow Nepal to export 325 megawatts of electricity to the Indian market on competitive rates. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 7: After negotiations for a long time, India has finally agreed to allow Nepal to export 325 megawatts of electricity to the Indian market on competitive rates. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Given the approval from the Central Electricity Authority of India, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) would export additional 325 MW of hydroelectricity into the Indian energy market. Prior to this, in November 2021, India had given approval for the export of 39 MW of power generated in Nuwakot district in the Indian Energy Exchange market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the second phase, Nepal has received approval to export 325 MW hydroelectricity power produced from Kaligandaki ‘A’ (144 MW), Mid-Marsyangdi (68 MW), Marsyangdi (67 MW) and Likhu-IV (51 MW), Executive Director of NEA Kulman Ghising said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With this, the NEA has got approval to export electricity produced by six hydropower projects to India. The surplus power would be exported via Dhalkebar-Mujjafarpur 400 KV cross-border transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a news conference at the Ministry of Energy on Wednesday, Minister for Energy Pampha Bhusal said the export of surplus power to India would help make positive contribution to economy by reducing Nepal’s trade deficit. Bhusal said India’s decision to purchase Nepal’s surplus power is a positive step. “We are in need of a big market. From this, additional market has now been expanded,” she said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-07', 'modified' => '2022-04-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14800', 'image' => '20220407080554_20210218115310_20200818043659_1597700431.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-07 08:04:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15049', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Government Refuses Issuing License to Private Sector for Electricity Trade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The process of allowing the private sector to trade electricity has been halted due to lack of legislation. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: The process of allowing the private sector to trade electricity has been halted due to lack of legislation. The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has stopped the process stating that there is no such provision in the existing laws.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation had prepared guidelines and procedures in this regard and submitted them to the Ministry of Law and Finance for approval. However, the Ministry of Law sent back the file saying that there is no legal provision to allow the private sector to trade electricity. In the meantime, the process of allowing the private sector to trade electricity was stopped immediately.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Law argued that any provision that is not included in the prevailing laws cannot be implemented by formulating procedures. Due to this, the process of issuing electricity trade licenses to the private sector was halted immediately, said Madhu Prasad Bhetuwal, spokesperson of the Ministry of Energy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is no provision in the prevailing laws to allow the private sector to trade electricity. However, the private sector has been seeking permission for the electricity trade. The Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN) has set up a company called Nepal Power Exchange Limited to trade electricity. The company has also signed an agreement with Indian electricity trading company Manikaran to provide 500 MW of electricity by next year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Given these issues, the Ministry of Energy had prepared a procedure to allow the private sector to trade electricity. However, after the Ministry of Law imposed the ban, the issue has become complicated.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, Energy Minister Pampha Bhusal said that the private sector would be allowed to trade electricity even through an ordinance. She said this while addressing the Himalayan Hydro Expo held in Kathmandu on Monday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Electricity Act under consideration in the parliament has a provision to allow the private sector to trade electricity. However, due to the obstruction of parliament, it is not likely to be passed immediately. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal said that if an ordinance is introduced, the private sector will be given a license to trade electricity.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We are in favor of allowing the private sector to trade electricity. However, due to the lack of legislation, there were some immediate problems,” she said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Therefore, if we bring an ordinance, we will give the license,” she assured. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of IPPAN, Krishna Prasad Acharya, said that there was no need to think about this issue. "The issue raised by the energy minister is serious. But for us, the license is more important than that,” he added. "</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has stopped 215 river flow projects of 9000 MW capacity. Energy producers of the private sector say that the PPA of those projects can be done if they get a license from the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14791', 'image' => '20220405030752_1649136566.1627125046.upper_tamakoshi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 15:06:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15046', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Himalayan Hydro Expo 2022 Concludes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The third edition of “Himalayan Hydro Expo 2022” concluded on Monday at the Exhibition Hall in Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: The third edition of “Himalayan Hydro Expo 2022” concluded on Monday at the Exhibition Hall in Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu. According to the organizers, the expo which kicked off on Saturday provided an additional impetus for the development and expansion of the country's energy sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The expo was organized in a joint effort by the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal (IPPAN) and Expo and Event Management Services Pvt. Ltd. The main sponsor of the expo was NMB Bank. The British Embassy and the Canadian High Commission were country partners of the expo, which was coordinated by the Indian Embassy in Nepal. Similarly, organizations including IFC also sponsored the expo, with additional assistance from Nepal Electricity Authority, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Nepal Bankers Association and Federation of Contractors’ Association Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the closing session of the expo, IPPAN requested the government to hand over the sale, distribution and export of domestically produced electricity to the private sector. Chairman of IPPAN Krishna Prasad Acharya made such a demand to Energy Minister Pampha Bhusal. Minister for Energy Pampha Bhusal said that the energy sector is the main basis of economic development and the government has taken steps to develop it. Similarly, she announced to open power purchase agreement (PPA) only after the market was assured.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the expo, 6 interactions related to hydropower were conducted every day. Companies and concerned authorities from China, India, Canada, Norway, South Korea, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Italy, Sweden, the UK, Brazil and other countries participated in the expo.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14788', 'image' => '20220405012340_1649118001.Clipboard07.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 13:22:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14993', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'NEA Imports Electricity from India at Maximum Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has imported electricity from the India’s open market by bidding at the maximum rate.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 25: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has imported electricity from the India’s open market by bidding at the maximum rate. Indian companies had refused to provide electricity to Nepal during the last two days (Wednesday and Thursday) at the rate proposed by NEA. As a result, NEA failed to import electricity from India. After that, NEA proposed the maximum rate to import electricity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Currently, the maximum rate per unit of electricity in the Indian market is IRs 20 (Rs 32 in Nepal). NEA had submitted a bid to purchase electricity at the same rate for Friday. NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai said that NEA has started importing electricity from India from Thursday night after the bid was approved. However, NEA will have to pay IRs 34 or Rs 45 per unit after adding various service charges, according to Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Currently, we are selling electricity at an average of Rs 10 per unit. Therefore, we are at a loss of up to Rs 25 per unit," he said, adding, "Overall, we are still in profit. There is a history of buying electricity from India for as less as Rs 1.90 per unit.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NEA officials, there are indications that there will be problems in power supply to the industrial sector shortly. There is a shortage of electricity in the Indian market due to the rise in price of coal following the Russia-Ukraine war. In that case, there could be a power shortage in Nepal, says Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “India generates electricity from coal. But currently, there is a shortage of coal in India, and the power generation has been automatically affected. That is likely to affect us as well,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, Pakistan has 16 hours of load shedding. Similarly, Sri Lanka has started facing 6-7 hours of power cuts. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After one month, the snow melts, and the flow of water in the rivers and streams of Nepal starts increasing. In that case, the production of electricity will also increase. NEA officials say that the situation will ease at that time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA should offer a bid on the previous day to purchase electricity from India. Separate bids should be offered every 15 minutes. Accordingly, NEA has to propose 96 bids for the next day. NEA proposed a bid accordingly for Friday. More than 90 percent of the bids were approved. It is said that electricity will be procured accordingly in the coming days as well.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the dry season, even the hydropower projects in India are not running at full capacity. This is also the case in Nepal. Nepal's electricity is based on hydropower. In winter, when the water level in the river decreases, electricity generation is reduced, and electricity has to be imported from India. But during the monsoon, Nepal exports surplus electricity to India.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14736', 'image' => '20220325023645_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 14:34:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '18023', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => '900 Megawatts of Electricity Will Be Added to National Grid in FY 2023/24', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'During the budget presentation in the parliament on Monday, Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat said that within one year, an additional 900 megawatts of electricity will be added to the national grid.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">May 30: The government aims to provide access of electricity to 100% of the population in remote and inaccessible areas by expanding renewable energy technologies such as small hydropower, solar, and wind in rural households within two years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the budget presentation in the parliament on Monday, Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat said that within one year, an additional 900 megawatts of electricity will be added to the national grid. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Approximately 900 megawatts of electricity will be added to the national grid by completing various projects including Rasuwagadhi hydropower of 111 megawatts, 102 megawatts of Madhya Bhotekoshi and 42.5 megawatts of Sanjen Hydropower promoted by Nepal Electricity Authority(NEA) in the upcoming fiscal year. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The total electricity production is projected to reach 3,600 megawatts by the end of the next fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To address the electricity demand during dry seasons and to export hydroelectricity, the government will prepare the modality and initiate the construction of the Budhigandaki project with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts and the Dudhkoshi reservoir-based hydropower project with a capacity of 635 megawatts in the next fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Last fical year, the government allocated Rs 75.1 billion for the development of the energy sector. This year, Rs 87.45 billion has been allocated, indicating a budget increase of Rs 12.35 billion for the energy sector's development. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-30', 'modified' => '2023-05-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17754', 'image' => '20230530061714_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-30 06:14:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16993', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Eighty-six Megawatt of Electricity Connected to National Grid', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The 86-megawatt of electricity generated from the Solukhola Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project has been connected to the national grid. The hydropower project promoted by Sahas Urja Limited had carried out test production since last week.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">February 12: The 86-megawatt of electricity generated from the Solukhola Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project has been connected to the national grid. </span></span><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The hydropower project promoted by Sahas Urja Limited had carried out test production since last week. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The electricity has been generated by channelizing water from the Solu rivulet of Solududhkunda municipality-11 to Maikubesi of Thulung Dudhkoshi rural municiplaity-3. </span></span><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The electricity generated from the run of the river-based hydropower project has been connected to the 132-KVA Solu corridor of Lammane sub-station. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The project has connected electricity to the 132-KV transmission line from power house to Lammane. </span></span><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chairperson of Sahas Urja Limited Him Pathak shared the electricity generated from Solukhola Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project has been connected to the national transmission line of the Nepal Electricity Authority after successful test production. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Pathak further said that commercial production would be initiated within 15 days following the connection to the central transmission line. ------RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16732', 'image' => '20230212060035_collage (44).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 05:52:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16503', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Private Sector Incurring Losses Over Billion Due to NEA’s Reluctance to Buy Electricity ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Private hydropower companies incurred losses of more than Rs 1 billion due to the reluctance of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to procure the electricity produced by the private power producers last year. ', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">December: Private hydropower companies incurred losses of more than Rs 1 billion due to the reluctance of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to procure the electricity produced by the private power producers last year. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to Independent Power Producers’ Association Nepal (IPPAN), twenty-seven power producer companies faced losses of more than Rs 1 billion after Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) did not purchase their power last year. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">IPPAN says that NEA was reluctant to buy the power due to overload in transmission line following excessive production of the energy. IPPAN said that it had met with Energy Secretary Dinesh Ghimire and drew attention to the problem facing them. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The work to collect losses incurred by the private hydro power companies is underway. “The work to collect losses of Chepe Khola, Lower Modi, Dordi Khola, Ghalemdi Khola, United Idi Mardi, Buddhabhumi, Upper Syange, among others, is underway”, said IPPAN.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal Electricity Authority signs an agreement with power producing companies on the basis of take or pay and take and pay categories. As per the take or pay agreement, NEA has to procure all the power generated by hydro power company once the project is connected to the transmission line. But, private power producers ink take and pay agreement for short-term due to delay in construction of transmission lines.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">As per the take and pay agreement, the NEA purchases the electricity if need be. It is free not to procure the power as well. “Nepal Electricity Authority’s misuse of the take and pay provision has given trouble to power producers”, said IPPAN Chairman Mohan Kumar Dangi. He blamed the NEA for failing to explore market to sell power.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to Dangi, delay in the construction of transmission lines by the NEA has incurred losses to the some hydro power projects as they have failed to evacuate power to the national grid.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">On the other hand, consumers are facing problem in quality supply of electricity in winter season. IPPAN Vice-chair asked the NEA to construct transmission lines as early as possible and help private power producers to lower the losses. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), however, says problem has arisen as private power producers connect their energy to sub-station other than mentioned in Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">NEA Spokesperson Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai said that NEA had not purchased power due to overload in the system during rainy season. NEA officials say that domestic electricity demand has to be increased for long term solution. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">When asked about the delay in the construction of transmission lines, NEA Spokesperson Bhattrai said, “NEA’s sole effort is not enough for transmission line construction adding “Land dispute, court cases, and social problem arise during the construction of transmission lines and it takes time to resolve them”.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">NEA has been taking eight to nine years to construct a transmission line that is supposed to be completed in two to three years. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-12', 'modified' => '2022-12-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16244', 'image' => '20221212062833_collage (3).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-12 06:24:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15141', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'India’s Energy Minister Pledges to Purchase Electricity from Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 21: India's Energy Minister RK Singh has announced that India will buy all the electricity generated from Nepal's hydropower projects.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 21: India's Energy Minister RK Singh has announced that India will buy all the electricity generated from Nepal's hydropower projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Singh made such announcement on Wednesday while addressing a joint energy meeting of the countries affiliated to the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">So far, India has agreed to purchase 364 MW of electricity from Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Madhu Prasad Bhetuwal, spokesperson of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, India has also announced to buy electricity generated from Bhutan's hydropower projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The announcement by the Indian energy minister has given us further impetus. If that really happens, it will be a great help to Nepal's hydropower development,” said Bhetuwal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">BIMSTEC includes Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The meeting also decided to facilitate electricity trade between BIMSTEC member countries, connect each other's transmission systems (grid) and establish an energy trade centre. A 12-point joint statement was issued after the meeting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the meeting, it was agreed to formulate necessary policy and tariff system for electricity trade between BIMSTEC countries. The meeting also decided to form a committee with experts to plan how to trade electricity between BIMSTEC countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It was agreed to set up a 'BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection Coordination Committee' to connect the grids of BIMSTEC countries. With the support of the Asian Development Bank, the committee will draw up a master plan for grid interconnection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Member countries have agreed to establish BIMSTEC Energy Center. The centre will conduct research on energy, exchange experiences and co-operate among member countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The meeting also decided to make an action plan, prepare the structure and prepare the necessary funds for the operation of the trade centre. It has been said that the centre will be brought into operation in time by making an appropriate action plan, roadmap, structure and working methodology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A meeting of BIMSTEC in 2011 had agreed to set up an energy centre. However, it was not implemented. Now the BIMSTEC countries are committed to implementing it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Everyone has expressed their commitment to implement it. Let's hope it is implemented," said Bhetwal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Addressing the meeting, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal said that the natural resources of BIMSTEC countries should be used as an alternative to energy generated from fossil fuel. “Energy, environment and economy are important sectors for sustainable development. However, we are constantly using fuels that affect the environment. This tendency to create tension in our environment must end now,” she said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In addition, there is a need to further expand economic cooperation among BIMSTEC countries for energy development, she added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Energy Secretary Devendra Karki said that moving ahead with the process of establishing the BIMSTEC Energy Center was a positive aspect. He said that this would help in the development of the energy sector of BIMSTEC countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"It is expected to be a great help in exchanging information and best practices on energy efficiency and non-conventional energy sources," he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He also said that Nepal was making progress in the energy sector. "We have made great strides in providing clean and reliable energy to our people. As a result, 93 per cent of our population has access to electricity,” he said.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-21', 'modified' => '2022-04-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14883', 'image' => '20220421022858_RS_KTM_IMGL6685_04202022.JPG', 'article_date' => '2022-04-21 14:28:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15119', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Government Lacks Modality to Build Budhi Gandaki Hydro Project', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 17: The government has decided to construct the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project with domestic investment after cancelling the contract with China Gejuwa Group Corporation (CGGC).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 17: The government has decided to construct the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project with domestic investment after cancelling the contract with China Gejuwa Group Corporation (CGGC). However, the government does not have the plan and modality to build the 1,200 MW project with domestic investment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Last year, the cabinet meeting had decided to take the Budhi Gandaki project from CGGC and build it with domestic investment. In this case, the government should have a separate plan and modality for how to build the project. However, no plan or modality has been formulated in this regard so far. It seems that the government has decided to take over the project from CGGC only for the sake of popularity.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that this project has been politicized. Some years ago, when the Chairman of the Maoist Center, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, was the prime minister, it was decided to allow CGGC to build the project in the Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Financing (EPCF) model.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Later, when Sher Bahadur Deuba became the prime minister in five years ago, the project was snatched from CGGC. After UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli became the prime minister, it was decided to allow CGGC to construct the project again. Now that Deuba is leading the government again, the project contract with CGGC has been terminated again.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Officials of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation said that it has been decided to build it with domestic investment but no modality has been decided on how to build it.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government said that the decision was made because of legal complications in allowing the CGGC to build the project. The government has also accused the CGGC of delaying construction. Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Energy Chiranjeevi Chataut said that the modality of constructing the Budhi Gandaki project has not been prepared yet. "Currently, it has been decided to take the project away from CGGC and build it with domestic investment. The plan and modalities of how to build it have not been decided yet. We are studying it,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Budhi Gandaki is a big project. It was earlier estimated that it would cost around Rs 300 billion. It is currently being re-evaluated. This project is considered equally risky. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“As it is a big project, the risk of investment is also high,” said Chataut.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The issue of how to raise investment is also challenging. There had been various attempts to raise investment in the past as well. However, they did not succeed. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector also said that the project should be constructed soon. Nepal has been buying electricity at high prices from India in winter due to a lack of adequate reservoir projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A reservoir project is needed to end that situation. On top of that, Budhi Gandaki is technically ready to go into construction. Therefore, the private sector is of the view that the construction of this project should not be delayed.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Other reservoir projects identified in Nepal are in the phase of survey and study. The survey of some projects has not been done as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The work of the DPR of Budhigandaki, approval of the environmental impact assessment report, and distribution of compensation have been almost completed. Now all that is left is to go into construction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector is also ready to invest in it. Chairman of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN) Krishna Prasad Acharya said that the private sector is ready to invest in Budhi Gandaki in partnership with the government. However, he said that the government should guarantee a return on investment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The private sector is ready to invest in the project in collaboration with the government. But, the government should guarantee the return. Expenditure should not be increased as in other government projects,” he said, adding, “If the government does not include investment for the transmission line, compensation distribution, and road construction in the project cost, we are ready to invest.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The issue of the construction of the Budhi Gandaki project is being looked at with utmost importance. Its construction is estimated to cost more than Rs 300 billion. The government had started levying a tax of Rs 5 per liter on petrol, diesel, kerosene, and aviation fuel from the fiscal year 2072/73 for the construction of Budhi Gandaki project with domestic investment. It had been collecting Rs 10 per liter since February 2010.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-17', 'modified' => '2022-04-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14861', 'image' => '20220417055058_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-17 17:50:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15108', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Production of Mid-Marshyangdi Hydropower Station Increases due to Rainfall', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 15: The production of the 70 MW mid-Marsyangdi Hydropower Station located at Besishahar-1 in Lamjung has increased.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 15: The production of the 70 MW mid-Marsyangdi Hydropower Station located at Besishahar-1 in Lamjung has increased. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pawan Basnet, head of the station, informed that the power generation started increasing due to the rise in water level in Marsyangdi River following occasional rainfall in recent days and the melting of snow. He said that only 26/27 MW of electricity was being generated since December, but now, the production has reached 58 to 60 MW. In the previous years, electricity generation used to show an increase only in May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the station, if the production shows an increase in the same manner, it will be able to generate electricity at full capacity within April. Construction of the project started in 2000 and completed in 2008. The hydropower station was constructed at a cost of Rs 27.20 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-15', 'modified' => '2022-04-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14850', 'image' => '20220415121145_marsyangdi590_1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-15 12:10:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15103', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Energy Sector Made Significant Progress in 2078 but Challenges Persist', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Nepal’s energy sector had not been able to achieve anything substantial in its 110-year history until the recent developments started showing some promising signs.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Milan Bishwakarma</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 14: Nepal’s energy sector had not been able to achieve anything substantial in its 110-year history until the recent developments started showing some promising signs. Despite countless challenges, the energy and hydropower sector of Nepal made a significant progress in the year 2078 BS.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stakeholders believe that achievements made in the energy sector in the review year would have long-term implications. Most notably, India has agreed to allow Nepal to trade electricity in its open market through competitive bidding. This, according to the stakeholders, is a historic achievement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Regional market is essential to sell the electricity generated in Nepal. Nepal is already at a stage where its surplus energy gets wasted during the monsoon. In this sense, a regional market for the energy sector of Nepal is of utmost importance. In such a situation, India not only opened its energy market to Nepal but also gave the green signal to Nepal Electricity Authority to sell 364 megawatts of electricity to India. This is a significant achievement, says Kumar Pandey, former chairman of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The energy which is to be produced in Nepal does not have a prospective market within the country. In such a situation, a regional market is vital for us,” said Pandey, adding, “India has granted Nepal permission to sell its electricity in its market. This is a significant achievement of the energy sector.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The operation of 456-MW Upper Tama Koshi Hydropower Project is another significant achievement of the energy sector in 2078.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Besides Upper Tama Koshi, many other hydropower projects came into operation during last year. This has made Nepal almost self-sufficient in energy. There has been a lot of progress but there is still a lot more to do,” added Pandey.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Another achievement is the resumption of Nepal-India Energy Summit which was stalled since the last two years due to Covid-19. The decisions taken during the summit has helped in the development of Nepal’s energy sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba also prioritized the agenda of energy sector during his recent state visit to India. Nepal and India unveiled a common vision paper for collaboration in the energy sector during the PM’s visit. The vision paper states that the energy trade will focus on regional market that includes Bhutan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal (BBIN).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There were also some good news regarding foreign investment in the energy sector during the review year. Foreign investment in this sector was not much encouraging in the last few years but the energy sector saw commitment of Rs 1.59 billion in 2078, which is more than the commitment received in the previous year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In 2077, foreign investors pledged to invest only Rs 5.8 million in the energy sector of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The energy sector has had to face problems ranging from natural disasters to liquidity crisis, increase in insurance premium rate, increase in interest rate among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Due to the liquidity crisis in the banking system, hydropower projects seeking loans have had to pay high interest rates. The cost of project including operational cost has increased due to the increase in interest rate.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">IPPAN Chairman Krishna Prasad Acharya said that the energy sector witnessed some discouraging events despite some significant achievements.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that the energy sector has yet to fully recover from the impact of coronavirus. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The impact of coronavirus which started in 2076 BS is still evident till this year. As a result, many hydropower projects have not been able to start construction. Even the under-construction projects had to stall the works,” said Acharya.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Things have improved only since February,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Another setback is the inordinate delay in granting power purchase agreement for run-over-river (ROR) projects to sell electricity. The government has been providing survey license to the private sector to undertake such projects but is reluctant to purchase electricity produced by the private sector stating that the laws allow them to purchase only a certain portion of energy produced by ROR projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The government promised to allow the private sector to trade electricity and also grant permission for PPA. However, both the promises were not fulfilled,” said Acharya.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-14', 'modified' => '2022-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14845', 'image' => '20220414045734_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-14 16:56:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15058', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'NEA to Export Additional 325 MW Energy to India ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 7: After negotiations for a long time, India has finally agreed to allow Nepal to export 325 megawatts of electricity to the Indian market on competitive rates. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 7: After negotiations for a long time, India has finally agreed to allow Nepal to export 325 megawatts of electricity to the Indian market on competitive rates. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Given the approval from the Central Electricity Authority of India, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) would export additional 325 MW of hydroelectricity into the Indian energy market. Prior to this, in November 2021, India had given approval for the export of 39 MW of power generated in Nuwakot district in the Indian Energy Exchange market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the second phase, Nepal has received approval to export 325 MW hydroelectricity power produced from Kaligandaki ‘A’ (144 MW), Mid-Marsyangdi (68 MW), Marsyangdi (67 MW) and Likhu-IV (51 MW), Executive Director of NEA Kulman Ghising said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With this, the NEA has got approval to export electricity produced by six hydropower projects to India. The surplus power would be exported via Dhalkebar-Mujjafarpur 400 KV cross-border transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a news conference at the Ministry of Energy on Wednesday, Minister for Energy Pampha Bhusal said the export of surplus power to India would help make positive contribution to economy by reducing Nepal’s trade deficit. Bhusal said India’s decision to purchase Nepal’s surplus power is a positive step. “We are in need of a big market. From this, additional market has now been expanded,” she said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-07', 'modified' => '2022-04-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14800', 'image' => '20220407080554_20210218115310_20200818043659_1597700431.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-07 08:04:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15049', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Government Refuses Issuing License to Private Sector for Electricity Trade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The process of allowing the private sector to trade electricity has been halted due to lack of legislation. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: The process of allowing the private sector to trade electricity has been halted due to lack of legislation. The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has stopped the process stating that there is no such provision in the existing laws.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation had prepared guidelines and procedures in this regard and submitted them to the Ministry of Law and Finance for approval. However, the Ministry of Law sent back the file saying that there is no legal provision to allow the private sector to trade electricity. In the meantime, the process of allowing the private sector to trade electricity was stopped immediately.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Law argued that any provision that is not included in the prevailing laws cannot be implemented by formulating procedures. Due to this, the process of issuing electricity trade licenses to the private sector was halted immediately, said Madhu Prasad Bhetuwal, spokesperson of the Ministry of Energy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is no provision in the prevailing laws to allow the private sector to trade electricity. However, the private sector has been seeking permission for the electricity trade. The Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN) has set up a company called Nepal Power Exchange Limited to trade electricity. The company has also signed an agreement with Indian electricity trading company Manikaran to provide 500 MW of electricity by next year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Given these issues, the Ministry of Energy had prepared a procedure to allow the private sector to trade electricity. However, after the Ministry of Law imposed the ban, the issue has become complicated.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, Energy Minister Pampha Bhusal said that the private sector would be allowed to trade electricity even through an ordinance. She said this while addressing the Himalayan Hydro Expo held in Kathmandu on Monday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Electricity Act under consideration in the parliament has a provision to allow the private sector to trade electricity. However, due to the obstruction of parliament, it is not likely to be passed immediately. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal said that if an ordinance is introduced, the private sector will be given a license to trade electricity.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We are in favor of allowing the private sector to trade electricity. However, due to the lack of legislation, there were some immediate problems,” she said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Therefore, if we bring an ordinance, we will give the license,” she assured. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of IPPAN, Krishna Prasad Acharya, said that there was no need to think about this issue. "The issue raised by the energy minister is serious. But for us, the license is more important than that,” he added. "</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has stopped 215 river flow projects of 9000 MW capacity. Energy producers of the private sector say that the PPA of those projects can be done if they get a license from the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14791', 'image' => '20220405030752_1649136566.1627125046.upper_tamakoshi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 15:06:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15046', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Himalayan Hydro Expo 2022 Concludes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The third edition of “Himalayan Hydro Expo 2022” concluded on Monday at the Exhibition Hall in Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: The third edition of “Himalayan Hydro Expo 2022” concluded on Monday at the Exhibition Hall in Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu. According to the organizers, the expo which kicked off on Saturday provided an additional impetus for the development and expansion of the country's energy sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The expo was organized in a joint effort by the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal (IPPAN) and Expo and Event Management Services Pvt. Ltd. The main sponsor of the expo was NMB Bank. The British Embassy and the Canadian High Commission were country partners of the expo, which was coordinated by the Indian Embassy in Nepal. Similarly, organizations including IFC also sponsored the expo, with additional assistance from Nepal Electricity Authority, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Nepal Bankers Association and Federation of Contractors’ Association Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the closing session of the expo, IPPAN requested the government to hand over the sale, distribution and export of domestically produced electricity to the private sector. Chairman of IPPAN Krishna Prasad Acharya made such a demand to Energy Minister Pampha Bhusal. Minister for Energy Pampha Bhusal said that the energy sector is the main basis of economic development and the government has taken steps to develop it. Similarly, she announced to open power purchase agreement (PPA) only after the market was assured.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the expo, 6 interactions related to hydropower were conducted every day. Companies and concerned authorities from China, India, Canada, Norway, South Korea, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Italy, Sweden, the UK, Brazil and other countries participated in the expo.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14788', 'image' => '20220405012340_1649118001.Clipboard07.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 13:22:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14993', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'NEA Imports Electricity from India at Maximum Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has imported electricity from the India’s open market by bidding at the maximum rate.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 25: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has imported electricity from the India’s open market by bidding at the maximum rate. Indian companies had refused to provide electricity to Nepal during the last two days (Wednesday and Thursday) at the rate proposed by NEA. As a result, NEA failed to import electricity from India. After that, NEA proposed the maximum rate to import electricity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Currently, the maximum rate per unit of electricity in the Indian market is IRs 20 (Rs 32 in Nepal). NEA had submitted a bid to purchase electricity at the same rate for Friday. NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai said that NEA has started importing electricity from India from Thursday night after the bid was approved. However, NEA will have to pay IRs 34 or Rs 45 per unit after adding various service charges, according to Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Currently, we are selling electricity at an average of Rs 10 per unit. Therefore, we are at a loss of up to Rs 25 per unit," he said, adding, "Overall, we are still in profit. There is a history of buying electricity from India for as less as Rs 1.90 per unit.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NEA officials, there are indications that there will be problems in power supply to the industrial sector shortly. There is a shortage of electricity in the Indian market due to the rise in price of coal following the Russia-Ukraine war. In that case, there could be a power shortage in Nepal, says Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “India generates electricity from coal. But currently, there is a shortage of coal in India, and the power generation has been automatically affected. That is likely to affect us as well,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, Pakistan has 16 hours of load shedding. Similarly, Sri Lanka has started facing 6-7 hours of power cuts. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After one month, the snow melts, and the flow of water in the rivers and streams of Nepal starts increasing. In that case, the production of electricity will also increase. NEA officials say that the situation will ease at that time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA should offer a bid on the previous day to purchase electricity from India. Separate bids should be offered every 15 minutes. Accordingly, NEA has to propose 96 bids for the next day. NEA proposed a bid accordingly for Friday. More than 90 percent of the bids were approved. It is said that electricity will be procured accordingly in the coming days as well.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the dry season, even the hydropower projects in India are not running at full capacity. This is also the case in Nepal. Nepal's electricity is based on hydropower. In winter, when the water level in the river decreases, electricity generation is reduced, and electricity has to be imported from India. But during the monsoon, Nepal exports surplus electricity to India.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14736', 'image' => '20220325023645_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 14:34:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '18023', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => '900 Megawatts of Electricity Will Be Added to National Grid in FY 2023/24', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'During the budget presentation in the parliament on Monday, Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat said that within one year, an additional 900 megawatts of electricity will be added to the national grid.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">May 30: The government aims to provide access of electricity to 100% of the population in remote and inaccessible areas by expanding renewable energy technologies such as small hydropower, solar, and wind in rural households within two years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the budget presentation in the parliament on Monday, Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat said that within one year, an additional 900 megawatts of electricity will be added to the national grid. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Approximately 900 megawatts of electricity will be added to the national grid by completing various projects including Rasuwagadhi hydropower of 111 megawatts, 102 megawatts of Madhya Bhotekoshi and 42.5 megawatts of Sanjen Hydropower promoted by Nepal Electricity Authority(NEA) in the upcoming fiscal year. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The total electricity production is projected to reach 3,600 megawatts by the end of the next fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To address the electricity demand during dry seasons and to export hydroelectricity, the government will prepare the modality and initiate the construction of the Budhigandaki project with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts and the Dudhkoshi reservoir-based hydropower project with a capacity of 635 megawatts in the next fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Last fical year, the government allocated Rs 75.1 billion for the development of the energy sector. This year, Rs 87.45 billion has been allocated, indicating a budget increase of Rs 12.35 billion for the energy sector's development. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-30', 'modified' => '2023-05-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17754', 'image' => '20230530061714_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-30 06:14:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16993', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Eighty-six Megawatt of Electricity Connected to National Grid', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The 86-megawatt of electricity generated from the Solukhola Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project has been connected to the national grid. The hydropower project promoted by Sahas Urja Limited had carried out test production since last week.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">February 12: The 86-megawatt of electricity generated from the Solukhola Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project has been connected to the national grid. </span></span><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The hydropower project promoted by Sahas Urja Limited had carried out test production since last week. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The electricity has been generated by channelizing water from the Solu rivulet of Solududhkunda municipality-11 to Maikubesi of Thulung Dudhkoshi rural municiplaity-3. </span></span><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The electricity generated from the run of the river-based hydropower project has been connected to the 132-KVA Solu corridor of Lammane sub-station. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The project has connected electricity to the 132-KV transmission line from power house to Lammane. </span></span><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chairperson of Sahas Urja Limited Him Pathak shared the electricity generated from Solukhola Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project has been connected to the national transmission line of the Nepal Electricity Authority after successful test production. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Pathak further said that commercial production would be initiated within 15 days following the connection to the central transmission line. ------RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16732', 'image' => '20230212060035_collage (44).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 05:52:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16503', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Private Sector Incurring Losses Over Billion Due to NEA’s Reluctance to Buy Electricity ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Private hydropower companies incurred losses of more than Rs 1 billion due to the reluctance of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to procure the electricity produced by the private power producers last year. ', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">December: Private hydropower companies incurred losses of more than Rs 1 billion due to the reluctance of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to procure the electricity produced by the private power producers last year. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to Independent Power Producers’ Association Nepal (IPPAN), twenty-seven power producer companies faced losses of more than Rs 1 billion after Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) did not purchase their power last year. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">IPPAN says that NEA was reluctant to buy the power due to overload in transmission line following excessive production of the energy. IPPAN said that it had met with Energy Secretary Dinesh Ghimire and drew attention to the problem facing them. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The work to collect losses incurred by the private hydro power companies is underway. “The work to collect losses of Chepe Khola, Lower Modi, Dordi Khola, Ghalemdi Khola, United Idi Mardi, Buddhabhumi, Upper Syange, among others, is underway”, said IPPAN.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal Electricity Authority signs an agreement with power producing companies on the basis of take or pay and take and pay categories. As per the take or pay agreement, NEA has to procure all the power generated by hydro power company once the project is connected to the transmission line. But, private power producers ink take and pay agreement for short-term due to delay in construction of transmission lines.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">As per the take and pay agreement, the NEA purchases the electricity if need be. It is free not to procure the power as well. “Nepal Electricity Authority’s misuse of the take and pay provision has given trouble to power producers”, said IPPAN Chairman Mohan Kumar Dangi. He blamed the NEA for failing to explore market to sell power.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to Dangi, delay in the construction of transmission lines by the NEA has incurred losses to the some hydro power projects as they have failed to evacuate power to the national grid.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">On the other hand, consumers are facing problem in quality supply of electricity in winter season. IPPAN Vice-chair asked the NEA to construct transmission lines as early as possible and help private power producers to lower the losses. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), however, says problem has arisen as private power producers connect their energy to sub-station other than mentioned in Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">NEA Spokesperson Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai said that NEA had not purchased power due to overload in the system during rainy season. NEA officials say that domestic electricity demand has to be increased for long term solution. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">When asked about the delay in the construction of transmission lines, NEA Spokesperson Bhattrai said, “NEA’s sole effort is not enough for transmission line construction adding “Land dispute, court cases, and social problem arise during the construction of transmission lines and it takes time to resolve them”.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">NEA has been taking eight to nine years to construct a transmission line that is supposed to be completed in two to three years. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-12', 'modified' => '2022-12-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16244', 'image' => '20221212062833_collage (3).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-12 06:24:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15141', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'India’s Energy Minister Pledges to Purchase Electricity from Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 21: India's Energy Minister RK Singh has announced that India will buy all the electricity generated from Nepal's hydropower projects.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 21: India's Energy Minister RK Singh has announced that India will buy all the electricity generated from Nepal's hydropower projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Singh made such announcement on Wednesday while addressing a joint energy meeting of the countries affiliated to the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">So far, India has agreed to purchase 364 MW of electricity from Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Madhu Prasad Bhetuwal, spokesperson of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, India has also announced to buy electricity generated from Bhutan's hydropower projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The announcement by the Indian energy minister has given us further impetus. If that really happens, it will be a great help to Nepal's hydropower development,” said Bhetuwal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">BIMSTEC includes Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The meeting also decided to facilitate electricity trade between BIMSTEC member countries, connect each other's transmission systems (grid) and establish an energy trade centre. A 12-point joint statement was issued after the meeting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the meeting, it was agreed to formulate necessary policy and tariff system for electricity trade between BIMSTEC countries. The meeting also decided to form a committee with experts to plan how to trade electricity between BIMSTEC countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It was agreed to set up a 'BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection Coordination Committee' to connect the grids of BIMSTEC countries. With the support of the Asian Development Bank, the committee will draw up a master plan for grid interconnection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Member countries have agreed to establish BIMSTEC Energy Center. The centre will conduct research on energy, exchange experiences and co-operate among member countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The meeting also decided to make an action plan, prepare the structure and prepare the necessary funds for the operation of the trade centre. It has been said that the centre will be brought into operation in time by making an appropriate action plan, roadmap, structure and working methodology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A meeting of BIMSTEC in 2011 had agreed to set up an energy centre. However, it was not implemented. Now the BIMSTEC countries are committed to implementing it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Everyone has expressed their commitment to implement it. Let's hope it is implemented," said Bhetwal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Addressing the meeting, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal said that the natural resources of BIMSTEC countries should be used as an alternative to energy generated from fossil fuel. “Energy, environment and economy are important sectors for sustainable development. However, we are constantly using fuels that affect the environment. This tendency to create tension in our environment must end now,” she said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In addition, there is a need to further expand economic cooperation among BIMSTEC countries for energy development, she added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Energy Secretary Devendra Karki said that moving ahead with the process of establishing the BIMSTEC Energy Center was a positive aspect. He said that this would help in the development of the energy sector of BIMSTEC countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"It is expected to be a great help in exchanging information and best practices on energy efficiency and non-conventional energy sources," he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He also said that Nepal was making progress in the energy sector. "We have made great strides in providing clean and reliable energy to our people. As a result, 93 per cent of our population has access to electricity,” he said.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-21', 'modified' => '2022-04-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14883', 'image' => '20220421022858_RS_KTM_IMGL6685_04202022.JPG', 'article_date' => '2022-04-21 14:28:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15119', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Government Lacks Modality to Build Budhi Gandaki Hydro Project', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 17: The government has decided to construct the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project with domestic investment after cancelling the contract with China Gejuwa Group Corporation (CGGC).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 17: The government has decided to construct the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project with domestic investment after cancelling the contract with China Gejuwa Group Corporation (CGGC). However, the government does not have the plan and modality to build the 1,200 MW project with domestic investment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Last year, the cabinet meeting had decided to take the Budhi Gandaki project from CGGC and build it with domestic investment. In this case, the government should have a separate plan and modality for how to build the project. However, no plan or modality has been formulated in this regard so far. It seems that the government has decided to take over the project from CGGC only for the sake of popularity.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that this project has been politicized. Some years ago, when the Chairman of the Maoist Center, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, was the prime minister, it was decided to allow CGGC to build the project in the Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Financing (EPCF) model.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Later, when Sher Bahadur Deuba became the prime minister in five years ago, the project was snatched from CGGC. After UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli became the prime minister, it was decided to allow CGGC to construct the project again. Now that Deuba is leading the government again, the project contract with CGGC has been terminated again.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Officials of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation said that it has been decided to build it with domestic investment but no modality has been decided on how to build it.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government said that the decision was made because of legal complications in allowing the CGGC to build the project. The government has also accused the CGGC of delaying construction. Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Energy Chiranjeevi Chataut said that the modality of constructing the Budhi Gandaki project has not been prepared yet. "Currently, it has been decided to take the project away from CGGC and build it with domestic investment. The plan and modalities of how to build it have not been decided yet. We are studying it,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Budhi Gandaki is a big project. It was earlier estimated that it would cost around Rs 300 billion. It is currently being re-evaluated. This project is considered equally risky. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“As it is a big project, the risk of investment is also high,” said Chataut.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The issue of how to raise investment is also challenging. There had been various attempts to raise investment in the past as well. However, they did not succeed. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector also said that the project should be constructed soon. Nepal has been buying electricity at high prices from India in winter due to a lack of adequate reservoir projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A reservoir project is needed to end that situation. On top of that, Budhi Gandaki is technically ready to go into construction. Therefore, the private sector is of the view that the construction of this project should not be delayed.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Other reservoir projects identified in Nepal are in the phase of survey and study. The survey of some projects has not been done as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The work of the DPR of Budhigandaki, approval of the environmental impact assessment report, and distribution of compensation have been almost completed. Now all that is left is to go into construction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector is also ready to invest in it. Chairman of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN) Krishna Prasad Acharya said that the private sector is ready to invest in Budhi Gandaki in partnership with the government. However, he said that the government should guarantee a return on investment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The private sector is ready to invest in the project in collaboration with the government. But, the government should guarantee the return. Expenditure should not be increased as in other government projects,” he said, adding, “If the government does not include investment for the transmission line, compensation distribution, and road construction in the project cost, we are ready to invest.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The issue of the construction of the Budhi Gandaki project is being looked at with utmost importance. Its construction is estimated to cost more than Rs 300 billion. The government had started levying a tax of Rs 5 per liter on petrol, diesel, kerosene, and aviation fuel from the fiscal year 2072/73 for the construction of Budhi Gandaki project with domestic investment. It had been collecting Rs 10 per liter since February 2010.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-17', 'modified' => '2022-04-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14861', 'image' => '20220417055058_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-17 17:50:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15108', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Production of Mid-Marshyangdi Hydropower Station Increases due to Rainfall', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 15: The production of the 70 MW mid-Marsyangdi Hydropower Station located at Besishahar-1 in Lamjung has increased.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 15: The production of the 70 MW mid-Marsyangdi Hydropower Station located at Besishahar-1 in Lamjung has increased. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pawan Basnet, head of the station, informed that the power generation started increasing due to the rise in water level in Marsyangdi River following occasional rainfall in recent days and the melting of snow. He said that only 26/27 MW of electricity was being generated since December, but now, the production has reached 58 to 60 MW. In the previous years, electricity generation used to show an increase only in May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the station, if the production shows an increase in the same manner, it will be able to generate electricity at full capacity within April. Construction of the project started in 2000 and completed in 2008. The hydropower station was constructed at a cost of Rs 27.20 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-15', 'modified' => '2022-04-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14850', 'image' => '20220415121145_marsyangdi590_1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-15 12:10:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15103', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Energy Sector Made Significant Progress in 2078 but Challenges Persist', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Nepal’s energy sector had not been able to achieve anything substantial in its 110-year history until the recent developments started showing some promising signs.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Milan Bishwakarma</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 14: Nepal’s energy sector had not been able to achieve anything substantial in its 110-year history until the recent developments started showing some promising signs. Despite countless challenges, the energy and hydropower sector of Nepal made a significant progress in the year 2078 BS.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stakeholders believe that achievements made in the energy sector in the review year would have long-term implications. Most notably, India has agreed to allow Nepal to trade electricity in its open market through competitive bidding. This, according to the stakeholders, is a historic achievement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Regional market is essential to sell the electricity generated in Nepal. Nepal is already at a stage where its surplus energy gets wasted during the monsoon. In this sense, a regional market for the energy sector of Nepal is of utmost importance. In such a situation, India not only opened its energy market to Nepal but also gave the green signal to Nepal Electricity Authority to sell 364 megawatts of electricity to India. This is a significant achievement, says Kumar Pandey, former chairman of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The energy which is to be produced in Nepal does not have a prospective market within the country. In such a situation, a regional market is vital for us,” said Pandey, adding, “India has granted Nepal permission to sell its electricity in its market. This is a significant achievement of the energy sector.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The operation of 456-MW Upper Tama Koshi Hydropower Project is another significant achievement of the energy sector in 2078.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Besides Upper Tama Koshi, many other hydropower projects came into operation during last year. This has made Nepal almost self-sufficient in energy. There has been a lot of progress but there is still a lot more to do,” added Pandey.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Another achievement is the resumption of Nepal-India Energy Summit which was stalled since the last two years due to Covid-19. The decisions taken during the summit has helped in the development of Nepal’s energy sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba also prioritized the agenda of energy sector during his recent state visit to India. Nepal and India unveiled a common vision paper for collaboration in the energy sector during the PM’s visit. The vision paper states that the energy trade will focus on regional market that includes Bhutan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal (BBIN).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There were also some good news regarding foreign investment in the energy sector during the review year. Foreign investment in this sector was not much encouraging in the last few years but the energy sector saw commitment of Rs 1.59 billion in 2078, which is more than the commitment received in the previous year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In 2077, foreign investors pledged to invest only Rs 5.8 million in the energy sector of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The energy sector has had to face problems ranging from natural disasters to liquidity crisis, increase in insurance premium rate, increase in interest rate among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Due to the liquidity crisis in the banking system, hydropower projects seeking loans have had to pay high interest rates. The cost of project including operational cost has increased due to the increase in interest rate.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">IPPAN Chairman Krishna Prasad Acharya said that the energy sector witnessed some discouraging events despite some significant achievements.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that the energy sector has yet to fully recover from the impact of coronavirus. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The impact of coronavirus which started in 2076 BS is still evident till this year. As a result, many hydropower projects have not been able to start construction. Even the under-construction projects had to stall the works,” said Acharya.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Things have improved only since February,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Another setback is the inordinate delay in granting power purchase agreement for run-over-river (ROR) projects to sell electricity. The government has been providing survey license to the private sector to undertake such projects but is reluctant to purchase electricity produced by the private sector stating that the laws allow them to purchase only a certain portion of energy produced by ROR projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The government promised to allow the private sector to trade electricity and also grant permission for PPA. However, both the promises were not fulfilled,” said Acharya.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-14', 'modified' => '2022-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14845', 'image' => '20220414045734_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-14 16:56:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15058', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'NEA to Export Additional 325 MW Energy to India ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 7: After negotiations for a long time, India has finally agreed to allow Nepal to export 325 megawatts of electricity to the Indian market on competitive rates. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 7: After negotiations for a long time, India has finally agreed to allow Nepal to export 325 megawatts of electricity to the Indian market on competitive rates. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Given the approval from the Central Electricity Authority of India, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) would export additional 325 MW of hydroelectricity into the Indian energy market. Prior to this, in November 2021, India had given approval for the export of 39 MW of power generated in Nuwakot district in the Indian Energy Exchange market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the second phase, Nepal has received approval to export 325 MW hydroelectricity power produced from Kaligandaki ‘A’ (144 MW), Mid-Marsyangdi (68 MW), Marsyangdi (67 MW) and Likhu-IV (51 MW), Executive Director of NEA Kulman Ghising said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With this, the NEA has got approval to export electricity produced by six hydropower projects to India. The surplus power would be exported via Dhalkebar-Mujjafarpur 400 KV cross-border transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a news conference at the Ministry of Energy on Wednesday, Minister for Energy Pampha Bhusal said the export of surplus power to India would help make positive contribution to economy by reducing Nepal’s trade deficit. Bhusal said India’s decision to purchase Nepal’s surplus power is a positive step. “We are in need of a big market. From this, additional market has now been expanded,” she said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-07', 'modified' => '2022-04-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14800', 'image' => '20220407080554_20210218115310_20200818043659_1597700431.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-07 08:04:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15049', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Government Refuses Issuing License to Private Sector for Electricity Trade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The process of allowing the private sector to trade electricity has been halted due to lack of legislation. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: The process of allowing the private sector to trade electricity has been halted due to lack of legislation. The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has stopped the process stating that there is no such provision in the existing laws.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation had prepared guidelines and procedures in this regard and submitted them to the Ministry of Law and Finance for approval. However, the Ministry of Law sent back the file saying that there is no legal provision to allow the private sector to trade electricity. In the meantime, the process of allowing the private sector to trade electricity was stopped immediately.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Law argued that any provision that is not included in the prevailing laws cannot be implemented by formulating procedures. Due to this, the process of issuing electricity trade licenses to the private sector was halted immediately, said Madhu Prasad Bhetuwal, spokesperson of the Ministry of Energy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is no provision in the prevailing laws to allow the private sector to trade electricity. However, the private sector has been seeking permission for the electricity trade. The Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN) has set up a company called Nepal Power Exchange Limited to trade electricity. The company has also signed an agreement with Indian electricity trading company Manikaran to provide 500 MW of electricity by next year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Given these issues, the Ministry of Energy had prepared a procedure to allow the private sector to trade electricity. However, after the Ministry of Law imposed the ban, the issue has become complicated.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, Energy Minister Pampha Bhusal said that the private sector would be allowed to trade electricity even through an ordinance. She said this while addressing the Himalayan Hydro Expo held in Kathmandu on Monday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Electricity Act under consideration in the parliament has a provision to allow the private sector to trade electricity. However, due to the obstruction of parliament, it is not likely to be passed immediately. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal said that if an ordinance is introduced, the private sector will be given a license to trade electricity.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We are in favor of allowing the private sector to trade electricity. However, due to the lack of legislation, there were some immediate problems,” she said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Therefore, if we bring an ordinance, we will give the license,” she assured. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of IPPAN, Krishna Prasad Acharya, said that there was no need to think about this issue. "The issue raised by the energy minister is serious. But for us, the license is more important than that,” he added. "</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has stopped 215 river flow projects of 9000 MW capacity. Energy producers of the private sector say that the PPA of those projects can be done if they get a license from the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14791', 'image' => '20220405030752_1649136566.1627125046.upper_tamakoshi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 15:06:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15046', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Himalayan Hydro Expo 2022 Concludes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The third edition of “Himalayan Hydro Expo 2022” concluded on Monday at the Exhibition Hall in Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: The third edition of “Himalayan Hydro Expo 2022” concluded on Monday at the Exhibition Hall in Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu. According to the organizers, the expo which kicked off on Saturday provided an additional impetus for the development and expansion of the country's energy sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The expo was organized in a joint effort by the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal (IPPAN) and Expo and Event Management Services Pvt. Ltd. The main sponsor of the expo was NMB Bank. The British Embassy and the Canadian High Commission were country partners of the expo, which was coordinated by the Indian Embassy in Nepal. Similarly, organizations including IFC also sponsored the expo, with additional assistance from Nepal Electricity Authority, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Nepal Bankers Association and Federation of Contractors’ Association Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the closing session of the expo, IPPAN requested the government to hand over the sale, distribution and export of domestically produced electricity to the private sector. Chairman of IPPAN Krishna Prasad Acharya made such a demand to Energy Minister Pampha Bhusal. Minister for Energy Pampha Bhusal said that the energy sector is the main basis of economic development and the government has taken steps to develop it. Similarly, she announced to open power purchase agreement (PPA) only after the market was assured.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the expo, 6 interactions related to hydropower were conducted every day. Companies and concerned authorities from China, India, Canada, Norway, South Korea, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Italy, Sweden, the UK, Brazil and other countries participated in the expo.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14788', 'image' => '20220405012340_1649118001.Clipboard07.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 13:22:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14993', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'NEA Imports Electricity from India at Maximum Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has imported electricity from the India’s open market by bidding at the maximum rate.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 25: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has imported electricity from the India’s open market by bidding at the maximum rate. Indian companies had refused to provide electricity to Nepal during the last two days (Wednesday and Thursday) at the rate proposed by NEA. As a result, NEA failed to import electricity from India. After that, NEA proposed the maximum rate to import electricity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Currently, the maximum rate per unit of electricity in the Indian market is IRs 20 (Rs 32 in Nepal). NEA had submitted a bid to purchase electricity at the same rate for Friday. NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai said that NEA has started importing electricity from India from Thursday night after the bid was approved. However, NEA will have to pay IRs 34 or Rs 45 per unit after adding various service charges, according to Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Currently, we are selling electricity at an average of Rs 10 per unit. Therefore, we are at a loss of up to Rs 25 per unit," he said, adding, "Overall, we are still in profit. There is a history of buying electricity from India for as less as Rs 1.90 per unit.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NEA officials, there are indications that there will be problems in power supply to the industrial sector shortly. There is a shortage of electricity in the Indian market due to the rise in price of coal following the Russia-Ukraine war. In that case, there could be a power shortage in Nepal, says Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “India generates electricity from coal. But currently, there is a shortage of coal in India, and the power generation has been automatically affected. That is likely to affect us as well,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, Pakistan has 16 hours of load shedding. Similarly, Sri Lanka has started facing 6-7 hours of power cuts. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After one month, the snow melts, and the flow of water in the rivers and streams of Nepal starts increasing. In that case, the production of electricity will also increase. NEA officials say that the situation will ease at that time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA should offer a bid on the previous day to purchase electricity from India. Separate bids should be offered every 15 minutes. Accordingly, NEA has to propose 96 bids for the next day. NEA proposed a bid accordingly for Friday. More than 90 percent of the bids were approved. It is said that electricity will be procured accordingly in the coming days as well.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the dry season, even the hydropower projects in India are not running at full capacity. This is also the case in Nepal. Nepal's electricity is based on hydropower. In winter, when the water level in the river decreases, electricity generation is reduced, and electricity has to be imported from India. But during the monsoon, Nepal exports surplus electricity to India.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14736', 'image' => '20220325023645_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 14:34:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '18023', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => '900 Megawatts of Electricity Will Be Added to National Grid in FY 2023/24', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'During the budget presentation in the parliament on Monday, Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat said that within one year, an additional 900 megawatts of electricity will be added to the national grid.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">May 30: The government aims to provide access of electricity to 100% of the population in remote and inaccessible areas by expanding renewable energy technologies such as small hydropower, solar, and wind in rural households within two years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the budget presentation in the parliament on Monday, Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat said that within one year, an additional 900 megawatts of electricity will be added to the national grid. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Approximately 900 megawatts of electricity will be added to the national grid by completing various projects including Rasuwagadhi hydropower of 111 megawatts, 102 megawatts of Madhya Bhotekoshi and 42.5 megawatts of Sanjen Hydropower promoted by Nepal Electricity Authority(NEA) in the upcoming fiscal year. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The total electricity production is projected to reach 3,600 megawatts by the end of the next fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To address the electricity demand during dry seasons and to export hydroelectricity, the government will prepare the modality and initiate the construction of the Budhigandaki project with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts and the Dudhkoshi reservoir-based hydropower project with a capacity of 635 megawatts in the next fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Last fical year, the government allocated Rs 75.1 billion for the development of the energy sector. This year, Rs 87.45 billion has been allocated, indicating a budget increase of Rs 12.35 billion for the energy sector's development. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-30', 'modified' => '2023-05-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17754', 'image' => '20230530061714_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-30 06:14:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16993', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Eighty-six Megawatt of Electricity Connected to National Grid', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The 86-megawatt of electricity generated from the Solukhola Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project has been connected to the national grid. The hydropower project promoted by Sahas Urja Limited had carried out test production since last week.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">February 12: The 86-megawatt of electricity generated from the Solukhola Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project has been connected to the national grid. </span></span><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The hydropower project promoted by Sahas Urja Limited had carried out test production since last week. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The electricity has been generated by channelizing water from the Solu rivulet of Solududhkunda municipality-11 to Maikubesi of Thulung Dudhkoshi rural municiplaity-3. </span></span><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The electricity generated from the run of the river-based hydropower project has been connected to the 132-KVA Solu corridor of Lammane sub-station. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The project has connected electricity to the 132-KV transmission line from power house to Lammane. </span></span><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chairperson of Sahas Urja Limited Him Pathak shared the electricity generated from Solukhola Dudhkoshi Hydropower Project has been connected to the national transmission line of the Nepal Electricity Authority after successful test production. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Pathak further said that commercial production would be initiated within 15 days following the connection to the central transmission line. ------RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16732', 'image' => '20230212060035_collage (44).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 05:52:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16503', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Private Sector Incurring Losses Over Billion Due to NEA’s Reluctance to Buy Electricity ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Private hydropower companies incurred losses of more than Rs 1 billion due to the reluctance of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to procure the electricity produced by the private power producers last year. ', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">December: Private hydropower companies incurred losses of more than Rs 1 billion due to the reluctance of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to procure the electricity produced by the private power producers last year. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to Independent Power Producers’ Association Nepal (IPPAN), twenty-seven power producer companies faced losses of more than Rs 1 billion after Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) did not purchase their power last year. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">IPPAN says that NEA was reluctant to buy the power due to overload in transmission line following excessive production of the energy. IPPAN said that it had met with Energy Secretary Dinesh Ghimire and drew attention to the problem facing them. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The work to collect losses incurred by the private hydro power companies is underway. “The work to collect losses of Chepe Khola, Lower Modi, Dordi Khola, Ghalemdi Khola, United Idi Mardi, Buddhabhumi, Upper Syange, among others, is underway”, said IPPAN.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal Electricity Authority signs an agreement with power producing companies on the basis of take or pay and take and pay categories. As per the take or pay agreement, NEA has to procure all the power generated by hydro power company once the project is connected to the transmission line. But, private power producers ink take and pay agreement for short-term due to delay in construction of transmission lines.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">As per the take and pay agreement, the NEA purchases the electricity if need be. It is free not to procure the power as well. “Nepal Electricity Authority’s misuse of the take and pay provision has given trouble to power producers”, said IPPAN Chairman Mohan Kumar Dangi. He blamed the NEA for failing to explore market to sell power.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to Dangi, delay in the construction of transmission lines by the NEA has incurred losses to the some hydro power projects as they have failed to evacuate power to the national grid.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">On the other hand, consumers are facing problem in quality supply of electricity in winter season. IPPAN Vice-chair asked the NEA to construct transmission lines as early as possible and help private power producers to lower the losses. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), however, says problem has arisen as private power producers connect their energy to sub-station other than mentioned in Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">NEA Spokesperson Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai said that NEA had not purchased power due to overload in the system during rainy season. NEA officials say that domestic electricity demand has to be increased for long term solution. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">When asked about the delay in the construction of transmission lines, NEA Spokesperson Bhattrai said, “NEA’s sole effort is not enough for transmission line construction adding “Land dispute, court cases, and social problem arise during the construction of transmission lines and it takes time to resolve them”.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">NEA has been taking eight to nine years to construct a transmission line that is supposed to be completed in two to three years. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-12', 'modified' => '2022-12-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16244', 'image' => '20221212062833_collage (3).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-12 06:24:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15141', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'India’s Energy Minister Pledges to Purchase Electricity from Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 21: India's Energy Minister RK Singh has announced that India will buy all the electricity generated from Nepal's hydropower projects.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 21: India's Energy Minister RK Singh has announced that India will buy all the electricity generated from Nepal's hydropower projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Singh made such announcement on Wednesday while addressing a joint energy meeting of the countries affiliated to the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">So far, India has agreed to purchase 364 MW of electricity from Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Madhu Prasad Bhetuwal, spokesperson of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, India has also announced to buy electricity generated from Bhutan's hydropower projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The announcement by the Indian energy minister has given us further impetus. If that really happens, it will be a great help to Nepal's hydropower development,” said Bhetuwal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">BIMSTEC includes Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The meeting also decided to facilitate electricity trade between BIMSTEC member countries, connect each other's transmission systems (grid) and establish an energy trade centre. A 12-point joint statement was issued after the meeting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the meeting, it was agreed to formulate necessary policy and tariff system for electricity trade between BIMSTEC countries. The meeting also decided to form a committee with experts to plan how to trade electricity between BIMSTEC countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It was agreed to set up a 'BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection Coordination Committee' to connect the grids of BIMSTEC countries. With the support of the Asian Development Bank, the committee will draw up a master plan for grid interconnection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Member countries have agreed to establish BIMSTEC Energy Center. The centre will conduct research on energy, exchange experiences and co-operate among member countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The meeting also decided to make an action plan, prepare the structure and prepare the necessary funds for the operation of the trade centre. It has been said that the centre will be brought into operation in time by making an appropriate action plan, roadmap, structure and working methodology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A meeting of BIMSTEC in 2011 had agreed to set up an energy centre. However, it was not implemented. Now the BIMSTEC countries are committed to implementing it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Everyone has expressed their commitment to implement it. Let's hope it is implemented," said Bhetwal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Addressing the meeting, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal said that the natural resources of BIMSTEC countries should be used as an alternative to energy generated from fossil fuel. “Energy, environment and economy are important sectors for sustainable development. However, we are constantly using fuels that affect the environment. This tendency to create tension in our environment must end now,” she said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In addition, there is a need to further expand economic cooperation among BIMSTEC countries for energy development, she added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Energy Secretary Devendra Karki said that moving ahead with the process of establishing the BIMSTEC Energy Center was a positive aspect. He said that this would help in the development of the energy sector of BIMSTEC countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"It is expected to be a great help in exchanging information and best practices on energy efficiency and non-conventional energy sources," he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He also said that Nepal was making progress in the energy sector. "We have made great strides in providing clean and reliable energy to our people. As a result, 93 per cent of our population has access to electricity,” he said.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-21', 'modified' => '2022-04-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14883', 'image' => '20220421022858_RS_KTM_IMGL6685_04202022.JPG', 'article_date' => '2022-04-21 14:28:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15119', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Government Lacks Modality to Build Budhi Gandaki Hydro Project', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 17: The government has decided to construct the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project with domestic investment after cancelling the contract with China Gejuwa Group Corporation (CGGC).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 17: The government has decided to construct the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project with domestic investment after cancelling the contract with China Gejuwa Group Corporation (CGGC). However, the government does not have the plan and modality to build the 1,200 MW project with domestic investment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Last year, the cabinet meeting had decided to take the Budhi Gandaki project from CGGC and build it with domestic investment. In this case, the government should have a separate plan and modality for how to build the project. However, no plan or modality has been formulated in this regard so far. It seems that the government has decided to take over the project from CGGC only for the sake of popularity.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that this project has been politicized. Some years ago, when the Chairman of the Maoist Center, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, was the prime minister, it was decided to allow CGGC to build the project in the Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Financing (EPCF) model.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Later, when Sher Bahadur Deuba became the prime minister in five years ago, the project was snatched from CGGC. After UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli became the prime minister, it was decided to allow CGGC to construct the project again. Now that Deuba is leading the government again, the project contract with CGGC has been terminated again.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Officials of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation said that it has been decided to build it with domestic investment but no modality has been decided on how to build it.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government said that the decision was made because of legal complications in allowing the CGGC to build the project. The government has also accused the CGGC of delaying construction. Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Energy Chiranjeevi Chataut said that the modality of constructing the Budhi Gandaki project has not been prepared yet. "Currently, it has been decided to take the project away from CGGC and build it with domestic investment. The plan and modalities of how to build it have not been decided yet. We are studying it,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Budhi Gandaki is a big project. It was earlier estimated that it would cost around Rs 300 billion. It is currently being re-evaluated. This project is considered equally risky. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“As it is a big project, the risk of investment is also high,” said Chataut.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The issue of how to raise investment is also challenging. There had been various attempts to raise investment in the past as well. However, they did not succeed. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector also said that the project should be constructed soon. Nepal has been buying electricity at high prices from India in winter due to a lack of adequate reservoir projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A reservoir project is needed to end that situation. On top of that, Budhi Gandaki is technically ready to go into construction. Therefore, the private sector is of the view that the construction of this project should not be delayed.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Other reservoir projects identified in Nepal are in the phase of survey and study. The survey of some projects has not been done as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The work of the DPR of Budhigandaki, approval of the environmental impact assessment report, and distribution of compensation have been almost completed. Now all that is left is to go into construction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector is also ready to invest in it. Chairman of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN) Krishna Prasad Acharya said that the private sector is ready to invest in Budhi Gandaki in partnership with the government. However, he said that the government should guarantee a return on investment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The private sector is ready to invest in the project in collaboration with the government. But, the government should guarantee the return. Expenditure should not be increased as in other government projects,” he said, adding, “If the government does not include investment for the transmission line, compensation distribution, and road construction in the project cost, we are ready to invest.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The issue of the construction of the Budhi Gandaki project is being looked at with utmost importance. Its construction is estimated to cost more than Rs 300 billion. The government had started levying a tax of Rs 5 per liter on petrol, diesel, kerosene, and aviation fuel from the fiscal year 2072/73 for the construction of Budhi Gandaki project with domestic investment. It had been collecting Rs 10 per liter since February 2010.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-17', 'modified' => '2022-04-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14861', 'image' => '20220417055058_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-17 17:50:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15108', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Production of Mid-Marshyangdi Hydropower Station Increases due to Rainfall', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 15: The production of the 70 MW mid-Marsyangdi Hydropower Station located at Besishahar-1 in Lamjung has increased.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 15: The production of the 70 MW mid-Marsyangdi Hydropower Station located at Besishahar-1 in Lamjung has increased. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pawan Basnet, head of the station, informed that the power generation started increasing due to the rise in water level in Marsyangdi River following occasional rainfall in recent days and the melting of snow. He said that only 26/27 MW of electricity was being generated since December, but now, the production has reached 58 to 60 MW. In the previous years, electricity generation used to show an increase only in May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the station, if the production shows an increase in the same manner, it will be able to generate electricity at full capacity within April. Construction of the project started in 2000 and completed in 2008. The hydropower station was constructed at a cost of Rs 27.20 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-15', 'modified' => '2022-04-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14850', 'image' => '20220415121145_marsyangdi590_1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-15 12:10:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15103', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Energy Sector Made Significant Progress in 2078 but Challenges Persist', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: Nepal’s energy sector had not been able to achieve anything substantial in its 110-year history until the recent developments started showing some promising signs.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Milan Bishwakarma</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 14: Nepal’s energy sector had not been able to achieve anything substantial in its 110-year history until the recent developments started showing some promising signs. Despite countless challenges, the energy and hydropower sector of Nepal made a significant progress in the year 2078 BS.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stakeholders believe that achievements made in the energy sector in the review year would have long-term implications. Most notably, India has agreed to allow Nepal to trade electricity in its open market through competitive bidding. This, according to the stakeholders, is a historic achievement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Regional market is essential to sell the electricity generated in Nepal. Nepal is already at a stage where its surplus energy gets wasted during the monsoon. In this sense, a regional market for the energy sector of Nepal is of utmost importance. In such a situation, India not only opened its energy market to Nepal but also gave the green signal to Nepal Electricity Authority to sell 364 megawatts of electricity to India. This is a significant achievement, says Kumar Pandey, former chairman of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The energy which is to be produced in Nepal does not have a prospective market within the country. In such a situation, a regional market is vital for us,” said Pandey, adding, “India has granted Nepal permission to sell its electricity in its market. This is a significant achievement of the energy sector.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The operation of 456-MW Upper Tama Koshi Hydropower Project is another significant achievement of the energy sector in 2078.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Besides Upper Tama Koshi, many other hydropower projects came into operation during last year. This has made Nepal almost self-sufficient in energy. There has been a lot of progress but there is still a lot more to do,” added Pandey.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Another achievement is the resumption of Nepal-India Energy Summit which was stalled since the last two years due to Covid-19. The decisions taken during the summit has helped in the development of Nepal’s energy sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba also prioritized the agenda of energy sector during his recent state visit to India. Nepal and India unveiled a common vision paper for collaboration in the energy sector during the PM’s visit. The vision paper states that the energy trade will focus on regional market that includes Bhutan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal (BBIN).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There were also some good news regarding foreign investment in the energy sector during the review year. Foreign investment in this sector was not much encouraging in the last few years but the energy sector saw commitment of Rs 1.59 billion in 2078, which is more than the commitment received in the previous year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In 2077, foreign investors pledged to invest only Rs 5.8 million in the energy sector of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The energy sector has had to face problems ranging from natural disasters to liquidity crisis, increase in insurance premium rate, increase in interest rate among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Due to the liquidity crisis in the banking system, hydropower projects seeking loans have had to pay high interest rates. The cost of project including operational cost has increased due to the increase in interest rate.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">IPPAN Chairman Krishna Prasad Acharya said that the energy sector witnessed some discouraging events despite some significant achievements.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that the energy sector has yet to fully recover from the impact of coronavirus. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The impact of coronavirus which started in 2076 BS is still evident till this year. As a result, many hydropower projects have not been able to start construction. Even the under-construction projects had to stall the works,” said Acharya.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Things have improved only since February,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Another setback is the inordinate delay in granting power purchase agreement for run-over-river (ROR) projects to sell electricity. The government has been providing survey license to the private sector to undertake such projects but is reluctant to purchase electricity produced by the private sector stating that the laws allow them to purchase only a certain portion of energy produced by ROR projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The government promised to allow the private sector to trade electricity and also grant permission for PPA. However, both the promises were not fulfilled,” said Acharya.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-14', 'modified' => '2022-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14845', 'image' => '20220414045734_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-14 16:56:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15058', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'NEA to Export Additional 325 MW Energy to India ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 7: After negotiations for a long time, India has finally agreed to allow Nepal to export 325 megawatts of electricity to the Indian market on competitive rates. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 7: After negotiations for a long time, India has finally agreed to allow Nepal to export 325 megawatts of electricity to the Indian market on competitive rates. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Given the approval from the Central Electricity Authority of India, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) would export additional 325 MW of hydroelectricity into the Indian energy market. Prior to this, in November 2021, India had given approval for the export of 39 MW of power generated in Nuwakot district in the Indian Energy Exchange market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the second phase, Nepal has received approval to export 325 MW hydroelectricity power produced from Kaligandaki ‘A’ (144 MW), Mid-Marsyangdi (68 MW), Marsyangdi (67 MW) and Likhu-IV (51 MW), Executive Director of NEA Kulman Ghising said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With this, the NEA has got approval to export electricity produced by six hydropower projects to India. The surplus power would be exported via Dhalkebar-Mujjafarpur 400 KV cross-border transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a news conference at the Ministry of Energy on Wednesday, Minister for Energy Pampha Bhusal said the export of surplus power to India would help make positive contribution to economy by reducing Nepal’s trade deficit. Bhusal said India’s decision to purchase Nepal’s surplus power is a positive step. “We are in need of a big market. From this, additional market has now been expanded,” she said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-07', 'modified' => '2022-04-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14800', 'image' => '20220407080554_20210218115310_20200818043659_1597700431.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-07 08:04:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15049', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Government Refuses Issuing License to Private Sector for Electricity Trade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The process of allowing the private sector to trade electricity has been halted due to lack of legislation. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: The process of allowing the private sector to trade electricity has been halted due to lack of legislation. The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has stopped the process stating that there is no such provision in the existing laws.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation had prepared guidelines and procedures in this regard and submitted them to the Ministry of Law and Finance for approval. However, the Ministry of Law sent back the file saying that there is no legal provision to allow the private sector to trade electricity. In the meantime, the process of allowing the private sector to trade electricity was stopped immediately.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Law argued that any provision that is not included in the prevailing laws cannot be implemented by formulating procedures. Due to this, the process of issuing electricity trade licenses to the private sector was halted immediately, said Madhu Prasad Bhetuwal, spokesperson of the Ministry of Energy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is no provision in the prevailing laws to allow the private sector to trade electricity. However, the private sector has been seeking permission for the electricity trade. The Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN) has set up a company called Nepal Power Exchange Limited to trade electricity. The company has also signed an agreement with Indian electricity trading company Manikaran to provide 500 MW of electricity by next year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Given these issues, the Ministry of Energy had prepared a procedure to allow the private sector to trade electricity. However, after the Ministry of Law imposed the ban, the issue has become complicated.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, Energy Minister Pampha Bhusal said that the private sector would be allowed to trade electricity even through an ordinance. She said this while addressing the Himalayan Hydro Expo held in Kathmandu on Monday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Electricity Act under consideration in the parliament has a provision to allow the private sector to trade electricity. However, due to the obstruction of parliament, it is not likely to be passed immediately. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal said that if an ordinance is introduced, the private sector will be given a license to trade electricity.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We are in favor of allowing the private sector to trade electricity. However, due to the lack of legislation, there were some immediate problems,” she said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Therefore, if we bring an ordinance, we will give the license,” she assured. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of IPPAN, Krishna Prasad Acharya, said that there was no need to think about this issue. "The issue raised by the energy minister is serious. But for us, the license is more important than that,” he added. "</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has stopped 215 river flow projects of 9000 MW capacity. Energy producers of the private sector say that the PPA of those projects can be done if they get a license from the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14791', 'image' => '20220405030752_1649136566.1627125046.upper_tamakoshi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 15:06:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15046', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'Himalayan Hydro Expo 2022 Concludes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The third edition of “Himalayan Hydro Expo 2022” concluded on Monday at the Exhibition Hall in Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: The third edition of “Himalayan Hydro Expo 2022” concluded on Monday at the Exhibition Hall in Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu. According to the organizers, the expo which kicked off on Saturday provided an additional impetus for the development and expansion of the country's energy sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The expo was organized in a joint effort by the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal (IPPAN) and Expo and Event Management Services Pvt. Ltd. The main sponsor of the expo was NMB Bank. The British Embassy and the Canadian High Commission were country partners of the expo, which was coordinated by the Indian Embassy in Nepal. Similarly, organizations including IFC also sponsored the expo, with additional assistance from Nepal Electricity Authority, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Nepal Bankers Association and Federation of Contractors’ Association Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the closing session of the expo, IPPAN requested the government to hand over the sale, distribution and export of domestically produced electricity to the private sector. Chairman of IPPAN Krishna Prasad Acharya made such a demand to Energy Minister Pampha Bhusal. Minister for Energy Pampha Bhusal said that the energy sector is the main basis of economic development and the government has taken steps to develop it. Similarly, she announced to open power purchase agreement (PPA) only after the market was assured.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the expo, 6 interactions related to hydropower were conducted every day. Companies and concerned authorities from China, India, Canada, Norway, South Korea, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Italy, Sweden, the UK, Brazil and other countries participated in the expo.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14788', 'image' => '20220405012340_1649118001.Clipboard07.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 13:22:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14993', 'article_category_id' => '224', 'title' => 'NEA Imports Electricity from India at Maximum Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has imported electricity from the India’s open market by bidding at the maximum rate.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 25: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has imported electricity from the India’s open market by bidding at the maximum rate. Indian companies had refused to provide electricity to Nepal during the last two days (Wednesday and Thursday) at the rate proposed by NEA. As a result, NEA failed to import electricity from India. After that, NEA proposed the maximum rate to import electricity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Currently, the maximum rate per unit of electricity in the Indian market is IRs 20 (Rs 32 in Nepal). NEA had submitted a bid to purchase electricity at the same rate for Friday. NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai said that NEA has started importing electricity from India from Thursday night after the bid was approved. However, NEA will have to pay IRs 34 or Rs 45 per unit after adding various service charges, according to Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Currently, we are selling electricity at an average of Rs 10 per unit. Therefore, we are at a loss of up to Rs 25 per unit," he said, adding, "Overall, we are still in profit. There is a history of buying electricity from India for as less as Rs 1.90 per unit.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NEA officials, there are indications that there will be problems in power supply to the industrial sector shortly. There is a shortage of electricity in the Indian market due to the rise in price of coal following the Russia-Ukraine war. In that case, there could be a power shortage in Nepal, says Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “India generates electricity from coal. But currently, there is a shortage of coal in India, and the power generation has been automatically affected. That is likely to affect us as well,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, Pakistan has 16 hours of load shedding. Similarly, Sri Lanka has started facing 6-7 hours of power cuts. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After one month, the snow melts, and the flow of water in the rivers and streams of Nepal starts increasing. In that case, the production of electricity will also increase. NEA officials say that the situation will ease at that time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA should offer a bid on the previous day to purchase electricity from India. Separate bids should be offered every 15 minutes. Accordingly, NEA has to propose 96 bids for the next day. NEA proposed a bid accordingly for Friday. More than 90 percent of the bids were approved. It is said that electricity will be procured accordingly in the coming days as well.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the dry season, even the hydropower projects in India are not running at full capacity. This is also the case in Nepal. Nepal's electricity is based on hydropower. In winter, when the water level in the river decreases, electricity generation is reduced, and electricity has to be imported from India. But during the monsoon, Nepal exports surplus electricity to India.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14736', 'image' => '20220325023645_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 14:34:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
