Technically flawed transmission lines have been constructed to connect the electricity generated from four hydropower projects, which are in the final stages of construction in the Rahughat basin, to the central grid.

The hydropower projects have constructed a ‘crossing’ where the wires of a 220 kV transmission line pass below a 132 kV capacity Dandakhet-Rahughat line, and the distance between the two transmission line wires is below the standard requirement.

In Piple, Raghuganga Rural Municipality-3, the transmission line of the project coming from the north to the south crosses with the Dandakhet-Rahughat transmission line running from west to east. From a technical standpoint, the wires of the higher-capacity transmission line should be positioned above those of the lower-capacity line. According to the standard, at the crossing point, there should be a minimum distance of 4.5 meters between the top wire of the 132 kV line and the bottom wire of the 220 kV line.

To connect the electricity generated from the under-construction hydropower projects on the Myagdi River and its tributaries to the central grid, the Nepal Electricity Authority has nearly completed the construction of a 25-kilometer-long, 132 kV capacity transmission line from Dandakhet in Malika Rural Municipality-7 to Ambang in Raghuganga Rural Municipality-3, along with substations at both locations.

The transmission line constructed by the hydropower projects crosses between towers number AP2 and AP3 of the Dandakhet-Rahughat transmission line. Due to delays in the construction of the Dandakhet-Rahughat transmission line, which began in 2021, four projects with a combined capacity of 130.8 megawatts have built an alternative transmission line from Piple to Tilkenichaur to connect to the 220 kV Dana-Khurkot transmission line as an alternative to the substation in Ambang.

In the Rahughat basin, the 37.5 MW Chimkhola-Rahughat-Mangale, 48.5 MW Upper Rahughat, 21.3 MW Thulokhola, and 23.5 MW Upper Thulokhola hydropower projects are preparing for test production. Roshan Agrawal, the chief of the Dandakhet-Rahughat transmission line project, stated that the hydropower developers, without proper coordination, have built towers haphazardly and constructed technically flawed transmission lines that do not meet the standards.

“The hydropower projects have ignored and defied our repeated correspondence over the past nine months requesting them to remove the line they constructed beneath ours,” he said. “They are now facing problems because they failed to implement the agreement to install another tower that would position their line above the 132 kV line.”

Attempts to contact Gopal Niure, the representative of Thulokhola, and Indra Dhakal, the representative of Tudi Power - the developer of Upper Rahughat and Chimkhola-Mangale-Rahughat - were unsuccessful. However, Prakash Timilsina, the residential engineer of Tudi Power, responded that they are preparing to construct a taller tower in accordance with the agreement, ensuring that the 220 kV line runs above the 132 kV line.