The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has urged its subsidiary Chilime Hydropower Limited to complete the construction of the Madhya Bhotekoshi Hydropower Project and the Khimti-Bahrabise transmission line in Sindhupalchowk within a month.
During the testing of the structure and equipment to start electricity generation from the completed Madhya Bhotekoshi, the tunnel leaked while pouring water and currently it is being repaired for improvement of the tunnel and to stop it from leaking.
As 40 MW of electricity has been generated from the Madhya Bhotekoshi with an installed capacity of 102 MW during the winter months it is regarded as a great importance for managing electricity supply as per the demand of the winter months, the NEA management has taken the initiative and urged to bring Madhya Bhotekoshi into operation as soon as possible.
A team comprising Kulman Ghising, Executive Director of the NEA, and Subhash Kumar Mishra, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Chilime Hydropower Company and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Madhya Bhotekoshi Hydropower Company, have conducted a monitoring visit to the transmission line and substation and taken information about the construction progress.
The construction of the 400 kV transmission line from the new Khimti substation in Ramechhap to Bahrabise in Sindhupalchowk under the Tamakoshi-Kathmandu kV transmission line project, which will transmit electricity generated from the Madhya Bhotekoshi Hydropower Project, is in the final stage. All the towers in the Khimti-Bahrabise section under the transmission line project have been erected. Only about one kilometer of wire remains to be laid.
The 400 kV new Khimti-Bahrabise transmission line will be brought into operation at 200 kV immediately and the electricity of Madhya Bhotekoshi will be incorporated into the national transmission grid. The process of installing the necessary infrastructure at the new Khimti and Bahrabise substations to charge the line at 200 kV has already progressed.
The team led by Executive Director Ghising has discussed the ongoing work at the new Khimti and Bahrabise substations to charge the Khimti-Bahrabise line at 200 kV and instructed the project management and construction entrepreneurs to immediately proceed with the remaining work. The team also inspected the ongoing wire pulling work at the Tripurasundari Rural Municipality-2 intersection in Sindhupalchok under the transmission line.
Stating that the construction of both projects was sensitive and essential, Ghising personally came to the field to monitor the construction, he also directed to take the construction seriously and coordinate the remaining work expeditiously. A four-kilometer 220 kV transmission line connecting the powerhouse of the Madhya Bhotekoshi project in Bahrabise Municipality-5 to the NEA’s Bahrabise substation in the same municipality-3 has been constructed.
The Tamakoshi-Kathmandu transmission line has been constructed to supply electricity to the existing and future hydroelectric projects on the Tamakoshi and Sunkoshi rivers and their tributaries. Out of the 122 towers on the Bahrabise-Lapsiphedi line section, only two are yet to be constructed.
