As the country is achieving a notable rise in electricity production in recent years, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is expediting the installation of transmission lines.

The NEA records show that the total length of the transmission lines has reached 6,507 circuit kilometers, more than double of the length in the past eight years. As of the fiscal year 2015/16, Nepal had transmission lines stretching 2,911 circuit km.

The NEA Managing Director Kulman Ghising said the power utility has achieved a notable qualitative growth in the segment in the past eight years. “Despite facing a number of constraints like obstructions from local people, land acquisition, tree cutting issues and transport of the necessary materials, the construction of transmission lines has gained significant progress over the period,” said Ghising.

The total length of transmission lines includes the grid lines in capacity of 400 kV, 220 kV, 132 kV and 66 kV. As of the fiscal year 2023/24, there were 4,136 circuit km of 132 kV, 1,213 circuit km of 220 kV, 644 circuit km of 400 kV and 514 circuit km of 66 kV operating in the country.

A master plan prepared by the NEA shows that the country needs an investment of at least Rs 500 billion in the next 10 years for construction of essential transmission lines and substations. At present, the NEA initiated 236 transmission line projects in capacities of 132 kV, 220 kV and 400 kV are under construction.

Nepal now is an energy surplus country in the monsoon due to the completion of a number of hydropower plants. Nepal’s electricity production capacity has reached 3,157 MW with an additional production of 2,300 MW in the past eight years. However, the peak electricity demand of the country has reached 2,650 MW.

In many cases the produced electricity is going into wastage while the industrial sector is not getting the amount of electricity that they need for their production plants, either due to lack of transmission lines or due to lack of high-voltage grid lines.

According to the NEA, a 132 kV single circuit line cannot carry more than 150 MW while 220 kV single circuits carry only 300-400MW. A transmission line with a capacity of 400 kV or more can carry over 1,200 MW of electricity from one circuit. The 400 kV transmission line projects are deemed extremely important for Nepal in order to materialize high levels of benefits out of the electricity exports.

Likewise, the capacity of grid substations of the country has reached 13,050 MVA, almost six-folds of the capacity eight years ago. In FY 2015/16, the capacity stood at 2,223 MVA.