The state power monopoly in Nepal has extended load-shedding hours from the earlier nine hours a day to 12 hours beginning on Sunday.
The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), that had increased power cuts to nine hours a day in mid-December, announced last Friday further extension to 12 hours a day for domestic consumers.
It is not an abnormal phenomenon for NEA to increase the hours of power cut following the onset of the dry season in Nepal, a country having one of the highest hydropower potential in the world.
The drop-off in electricity generation owing to the decreasing water level in rivers has been blamed for the extended rolling blackout.
Load-shedding during winter last year had gone up to 16 hours a day. With the new schedule becoming effective, Nepalis will have to cope with 84 hours a week in darkness.
‘Increasing load shedding is our compulsion,’ Bhuwan Chettri, chief of NEA’s Load Dispatch Centre, told Xinhua by phone. ‘The power demand goes up to 100 MW during the dry season as compared to the wet season and it is hard to balance the demand and supply chain.’
It has not even been a week since Nepal’s Energy Minister Umakant Jha promised to contain power cuts within 12 hours a day this winter that Nepalis have received the fresh load-shedding schedule equalling to the same period a day.
‘This is just the beginning and the power crisis cannot be limited within only 12 hours a day in the near future,’ Chettri said. ‘At present, there is a demand for 1,100 MW a day while we have been able to supply only 575 MW to 600 MW.’
The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), that had increased power cuts to nine hours a day in mid-December, announced last Friday further extension to 12 hours a day for domestic consumers.
It is not an abnormal phenomenon for NEA to increase the hours of power cut following the onset of the dry season in Nepal, a country having one of the highest hydropower potential in the world.
The drop-off in electricity generation owing to the decreasing water level in rivers has been blamed for the extended rolling blackout.
Load-shedding during winter last year had gone up to 16 hours a day. With the new schedule becoming effective, Nepalis will have to cope with 84 hours a week in darkness.
‘Increasing load shedding is our compulsion,’ Bhuwan Chettri, chief of NEA’s Load Dispatch Centre, told Xinhua by phone. ‘The power demand goes up to 100 MW during the dry season as compared to the wet season and it is hard to balance the demand and supply chain.’
It has not even been a week since Nepal’s Energy Minister Umakant Jha promised to contain power cuts within 12 hours a day this winter that Nepalis have received the fresh load-shedding schedule equalling to the same period a day.
‘This is just the beginning and the power crisis cannot be limited within only 12 hours a day in the near future,’ Chettri said. ‘At present, there is a demand for 1,100 MW a day while we have been able to supply only 575 MW to 600 MW.’