for $130 million to

WB to ^prouide $130 million

assistance for solar proiect

Hr

^dLy.

^gl

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g*.99

Kathmandu, February 20

The Ministry of Finance

^(MoF)

today

signed

an

agreement

with the World Bank

^(\Ats)

Group for

$130

million

(equivalent to Rs 12.93

biliion) for implementation of 'Grid Solar Energy and

^. Energy Efficiency Project'.

The project has two components

- installing solar piant of

²⁵

megawatts and connecting it to the

national

power

grid, and

leakage prevention.

Energy efficiency

component deals with minirnising power leak- age,

which is

medsrired at

25

per

cent of the installed capacity of iess than 800 megawatt.

The government will investRs B0

million

under this component.

"We've

aimed to minimise

the current alarming leakage by 15 per cent by 2020," said Madhu Kumar

Marasini, joint

secretary

as

well

as chief of the International

Economic

Aid

Coordination

Divi-

sion of MoE adding, "Installation

of

25 megawatt solar

plant would

be

compieted within 20 15."

The 20 megawatt solar power

will

be instalied

in

the

first

phase and

remaining five

megawatts

will

be

installed in the

second phase, as per Marasini.

"We can utilise the additional power supply

of.

25

megawatts

within a

^year,

^'which takes

^a minimum three years to complete a

hydropower project _of this capaci- ry" ^he added.

Nepal Electriciry Authoriry (NEA)

wili implement both the

compo- nents of the project. Four locations

namely, Trishuli, Devighat

Hy-

dropower's powerhouse

yard, Pharping and Kulekhani have been selected to install solar panels.

In reservoir projects

like Kulekhani and Pharping hydropow- er, solar power can be evacuated

during the day time instead of

hydropower and reservoirs can be operated

during

the

night,

as per NEA officials.

The total fund earmarked for the

solar grid connection proiect

is

$50 miilion.

Under the Eegment of energy effi-

ciency, the government _{expects to} reduce leakage to 10 per cent from the current 25 per cent by enhanc-

ing the quality of

transmitters,.

transformers and connector wires;

amongothers.

^-'ti

Low quality equipment is also 6

major

cause

of electricity

leakage

which has been proven with

NEA's

transformer

procuremenl.

scam some two years back.

NEA has targeted to utilise about I05 megawatts by ZOZO from current' installed capacity after the imple- mentation of the project.

It would

prevent

the

leakage.of

electricity

generated by hydro.electric projects that are in the

pipeline. i

The energy efficienry componerid of the project

will

be completed by 2020

in

different phases at a

total

cost of $80 million. The loan extend- ed bytheWorld Bank Group has 0.5.

per cent interest raie and payback period of3B years.

MoF Joint Secretary Marasini and

World

Bank

Country

Manager to' Nepal Takuya Kamata signed the deal today during a function orgari].

ised at MoF today.

tund ^ZSIUIM

solar plant

PosT REPo_BI KATHI!1ANDU, FIB 20

The World Bank has agreed to provide _$130 million ^(Rs 12.92

biliion) to build solar stations

to

supply

electricity to

^the

Kathmandu valley and reduce

eiectricity

leakage

in

^the

exlsting system.

Out

of

the total aid ^pack-

age, $50 million

will

be spent on instailing solar stations in Devighat, Pharping, Trishuli

and Kulekhani which will

generate 25 MW of electricity The rest of the money will be spent on activlties to stream-

line

power dlstribution and cut leakage. Jolnt secretary at the Finance Ministry Madhu Ku'mar Marasini and World Bank Country Manager for Nepal Takuya Kamata ^sigaed an agireement on the f,inancial assistance

at ^the

^Finance

Ministry on

^F'riday.

Immediately after that, a sub-

sldiary loan agreement was

signed with the

^Nepal

Electricity Authority (NEA).

According to the mlnistry the solar plant is expected to be completed this year while schemes

to

reduce leakage

will

continue

until

2020. The plan aims to slash the current rate

of

leakage

of

25 percent to 10 percent.

Speaking at the signing cer-

emony, Joint

Secretary Marasini said the accord had been signed as

the

country needed power at any cost. He added that th.e solar platt was expected to start generating 20

MW

ol

power from &rne and

go into full

production by

September.

However,'NEA, Managing I)irector Mukesh KaJle said that it woulcl be chalienging to complete the plant before the end of the year as the tender process itself would ^take a lot of time. ^The electricity ^gener' ated

by the solar plant

is expected to cost Rs 30per unit.

The power produced by the plant

wili

be fed directly into the national grid to supply

it

to the

Kathmandu valleY The solar stations will be built

on NEA-owned

^land

which meins

it will

have to acquire private.land to facili-

tate

implementation

of

the project.

Meanwhile, leakage control measures are expected to save

power amounting to. ^more than 100 MW by 2020. Losses

in distribution are ^one of the reasons

lor the

^prevailing

lengthy iong-shedding hours.

World Bank

^CountrY

Manager Kamata said that the bank's suppor't was aimed at helBing Nepal reduce its elec-

trlcity deficit.

EnergY has been identified as a key prior- ity area of World Bank financ- ing in Nepal in its latest coun- try partnership ^{strate gY}

NEA unveils _Plan

to reduce system

Ioss ts ^10%

_{') -t}

H REPUBT.A ⁽ⁿ _{r- '-.} ^J; gq _{F*r- -<}

t

- "ffiil::;;

^.,,. ^zs vtw ^o.f _.s91ar '' '

,l

:qhiri":,HH,'.'.1',,': power within ^{a year}

;;l;;

n'on-technical. to

lo r

p"i""*

^{UV zo20 from}

exisi _" ^{' .t}

TI{UANDS':1fl8P' _,: 1 ,r,:, ..S,gtar'.1.*ry,1-:l:-',3* ,,

ing

'--'io'uchieue

25

percenr

,r,.uB!ffir,1+ep3l.EleCiric;.. ,, Will :bie''ihstelledi,l^*,1,,,,

rhe rarget,

ityAuthoriryiNEA)

plans

^premises

oi N$i

^p'-I_-

it

plans

to

^implement

dil'-

^to-

^connect

^25.

^MW ot 9.'llo,'ltt:,

'i=^11.1f118j ferent programs Iike

intro-

solar powe.r.ro its

suppty [ete.t{i1111nsnull

^ano

ducing ^automated *.,1. tyii",i, *iit'i"

^a

year' ' _Dwighat

Il:LYtl

^{q"^::}

readin"g lor households

and

^{As pe-r the}

^agreement

e{ate power dirr'18-^11l:

ClS-ba"sed

monitoring of

that the finance

minptry ^dme

^{onty'^ t h:,,} ,p-tol"q'

,l* ^.n..gy

supply and

iran- signed with.

the.

World

^{will cost,$43 mil1ion'}

asement. d;k;"

Fridav' the

gov- yEatoeg:yyT:g:

"

_{In order to} streamline

its ernment plans to pro-

ing Director l(amgnaldra supply system, NEA plans

to

^{cure solar- power}

^sy-stem

^{raloey s11o}

1111T:I]:::

adA'siUstations and

tra.ts- ^for insthllation in four

to be build..at

Y:^t-"t^t^"^:

I;;;; ;; ^{p.r the} need. pii."g tt wili

take

eight n:.,i70.d. i9l ^n.11yw

Similarly,

it

plans to

install monthgfol.ilstallatigns. *til*1":11|1*lollt^^

conduciors

- in different

This wi'Il be

the'larg-

_,

llt ptol-:T,i:1]-1'::

nlaces as part of irs

Energy

^est solar power system

in includes

_. malntelan,ce , Lfficiency'Project which

is thecoyntrv'Tt9B9-SW lngoferatYt":t^t:l1:

beine

imolemented

under solarplantinSundarighat firsf

^{tive years. v€r NtYv} soft l"oan df USS eZ

million.

of Lalitpur is the

lar$est

genera6on.cost ot ny+ro:

NEAi ^system loss

solai lpower.-system

in po*"t,pJt:l?tts

^{stano at}

stood at zs.tr

^percent

Ii .i,opa.i"t[a5iq,N!,,p},,,,,,.,,

,irot9dRsis0,.r,1il1ion:,':.'',

total

energy.generation

in

2013114. The loss is worth

around Rs 7

bitlion. If the from three ^different

^lay-

power utilityt plan of

^ers

^--

^from the head office, ieducing systlm loss

to 10

regionai offices

and

distri-

o.r."nt"-it.rializes, it will

^{bution centers through GIS}

iave

about Rs 4.14

billion

technoiogy. NEA

will

also

annually. If total energy install

^{automatic metering}

supplyby2020istakenini6

^system

by

displaclng the u.tor-,.tt," NEAs saving

will

existing analog..meters ⁱⁿ increase nearly

tlvo-fold'

the households'

Nr,n*s

Deputy Nlanag- NEAs

non-technical

ins

Director ^{^}

Ramchandia

^loss

{rreter

^{tampering and}

Fa'ndev said NEA wili

devise

^hooking

^of

^{lines) currently}

Distribution Master Plan

srands at 9 percent' and ^Loss Reduction

Master ^{The Energy}

^Efficiency

Plan will within one and

^Project

^{is a part of}

^Grid

half ^years. The plans witl

be

Solar and Energy Efficiency-

impllmented immediately

^Proiect that the Nlinistry of

,-fr."*tt.r,

^he

added.

h-inance signed rvith World

Technicalandnon-tech-

Bank on Friday'Total cost of nical loss

in

energy

supply

the projecl ^is $130.mi1lion'

;yJ; ^{will be} fr'onitbieil

^NEA

^is

^{already impie-}

menting a project to increase energy efficiency under the assistance

of

^{Asian Devel-}

opment ^Bank. The Proiect ^is phasing out in March.

According

to

^officials,

time of ^day

^{(ToD) meters} were introduced

in

indus-

tries hubs as Part of

the

proiecr.

SimitarlY, ^suPPlY ivsiem has been introduced bv adding transformers ^as

p"er the needed. Officials ^saY the project ^has become suc- cessful

in

reducing energy Ioss by one percentage Point in the last two fiscal Years.

NFA officials said

the new project

will

be imPle- mented

in

a Planned man- ner.

US $ 130M IIIA ^aid

tiil##'t$-{,ffiTJ#d.ff#*

The International Lses,accordingto^p*.o,n,,"*

Nepal through a subsidiary loan Development aso.iution ^1f

O.l.i ir*.i

^{[y tlr. U];ri*y}

.?ei"**'

agreement relends the total loan to

of the world eunt

croopi,u(

^""*--i't,"pro.1..,uirrio

n.n.run

^NtA to implement ^the project' asreed ro provide an

^riuu'n..

^{ZS H,f}

fiilf

^i"f

^rr pfr.i.-".iiri.

The govemment of,Nepal ^has

o?

US dollu, r:o *iriiin .i..nl.itv*iirri"zCirjl'"

- -

xpresseditssincereappreciationto

(eouivalent to Rs. 12.92

bitlion)

The.projeLg also aims

at

,t"w*Na*kforthisasisanceand

,n ih. nou.**.nt oflrlepal lor

the

^{reducing ttrt} systtmit:"etJc't'icif, ^{lor is} mntinued support in the socie' imnleirentation of Cria ^{Sof a,}

*i ^iir*iUri*

^f

.ti.ttt^ti..liv

^t"

i'O

economic development ofNepal' Enirw Efficiency pro.1..t. '

^'' ;il;^;;;;ra .ii'r,.i'"i,:..i-

Meanwhile' ^the world Bark

-Madhu

Kumar

Marasini' ^"-'

--ti"oi'u-'u'tio'iro'ilo'itt'on

_{Friday approved} a US dolldr ⁶⁵

Joint Secrerary.

fr^inir,r'yt'oi

^ir

rrato-U.?a*ri.gt^u.fX

miliion.ciedirtortheNepalHiglter Finance and Takuya

*."i.o, p.,1."i.1,r,. g.rJ;il;;.rpi;

iducmionRelormsProjecttohelp country Manager.

xtp'r cotinnv !;;;;tr;' ^*Jt

^uv

iiii "'"' --

address human resource needs of office of the wo,ro

e*t ,i;;r';l *"-

il;;;*

^is' considered ^{the country} and add to the national an asreemenr on U.nuff

oF'if,i

,o.onriiUun ^to l.rr.n ^the oresent knorvledge ^base'

GovJrnment or Nepat

^# ;il ;;;;;;1;;.ir,

^{rrom ir,'e}

point

Theprojectintendstosupport Bank, respecriverv ar

te uinisi.y .ir['*

^{of an}

^{.*rv p.ar.'il.} .i

relorms in ^selectetl intuiiions for of Finance

Friday. ^rtrslr)

^r"f

^.r .#gi ;;d'i;;;,.g';i;;;

^{improving qurlin' relevance and}

The objectives of the

project

ieduction .-nd.uror. _."

-'-' -

edciency ^of, higkr educalion and

are ro ^produce

r, ,r*'j?i^, ''"""i;1i;;:t.oflthe _project

roassistunder-privilegedstudens photovoitaic ^generared

.tJl1il ^i,

^US

^i";;b

^*iriion.

*r.'prn;.o

for equitable access'