High demand of electricity on Laxmi Puja day

KATHMANDU: On the Laxmi Puja day of this year’s Tihar, the country’s peak electricity demand reached 1305 megawatts. Last year, the peak demand for electricity on the day of Laxmi Puja was 1270 MW; this year, it has increased by 35 MW to 1305 MW.

The Nepal Electricity Authority recorded a peak demand of 1305 megawatts at 6.10 p.m. on Monday, the day of this year’s Laxmi Puja. 435.2 megawatts were generated and supplied by the authority’s river flow-based power plants, 482.2 megawatts by the authority’s subsidiary companies’ Upper Tamakosi, Khimti-1, and Chilim, and 767.5 megawatts by private sector hydropower stations.

Authority’s executive director Kulman Ghising, a team with deputy executive instructions was deployed from the load dispatch center at Syuchatar for power demand and supply management on the day of Laxmi Puja. The authority has been successful in supplying uninterrupted electricity across the country.

Previously, electricity was imported to meet the demand for Laxmi Puja, but now domestic production not only meets the demand, but has begun to exceed consumption. This year, the Authority did not even run the Kulekhani Reservoir Hydropower Station to meet the peak demand of Laxmi Puja. Kulekhani generates 60 megawatts of electricity from the first, 32 megawatts from the second, and 14 megawatts from the third.

Ghisingh, the Authority’s executive director, stated that during the peak season of Lakshmi Puja this year, 380 MW of electricity was exported to India and 200 MW of electricity could not be consumed. The Authority is selling excess monsoon electricity consumed within the country through competition in the Indian Energy Exchange Limited IX day-ahead market.

“Previously, when there was load shedding, electricity consumption on Laxmi Puja day was considered peak demand, but that is no longer the case; peak demand now occurs at other times,” said Executive Director Ghisingh.

“Industrial factories and offices are all closed during Tihar, and there is no heat in Terai and winter has not started in hilly areas including Kathmandu valley, so now is the time when there is no demand for electricity.” He said that increasing electricity consumption internally is a big challenge.