Keeping in view the upcoming School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exams, the Nepal Electricity Aut-hority (NEA) has decided to reduce the daily load-shedding by two hours effective from Monday. The decision means there will now be 10-hour load shedding compared to the existing 12 hours per day.

This year’s SLC exams, which starts from March 14, A total of 547, 165 students are sitting for the examination.

The resumption of power supply totaling between 55-60 megawatt from the Kali Gandaki ‘A’ Hydro Electricity Project (144-MW), which was undergoing repair and maintenance works for the past nine days, and ‘satisfactory’ water-level in the Kulekhani Reservoir ( 92-MW) have contributed to bring down power cuts, according to Bhuwan Chettri, chief at Load Dispatch Centre at NEA. Kali Gandaki ‘A’, the largest hydropower project in the country, resumed its power generation to the national grid from Saturday morning after undergoing repair of diversion gate, emergency wheel of the storage tank and replacement of all three inlet valves of the plant, said Abadesh Kumar Singh, chief at Kali Gandaki on Saturday.

Similarly, the Kulekhani reservoir, the only storage-type hydropower project in the country, has witnessed rise in the water-level of around six meters above sea level compared to the same period last year, said Chettri. “Last week’s sparse rainfall has contributed to some extent,” he added. The current peak power demand is between 1,000MW to 1,025MW, while the supply is merely at around 550MW including the power generated from the thermal plants and import from India. The NEA has urged its consumers to economise on the use of power so as to continue with the new schedule even after the SLC exams. “We are planning not to increase load-shedding hours again to 12 hours or more once the SLC exams are over if the power demand is carefully maintained,” Chhetri added.

Meanwhile, some parts of the hilly districts in the western and central Nepal are observing change in weather system with traces of rains since Friday. “There are chances of light rainfall in some parts of the central Nepal, including Kathmandu towards the late afternoon and evening on Sunday as well. The weather will remain clear in most places,” said Rajendra Shrestha, senior meteorologist at Meteorological Forecasting Division on Saturday.

source: The Kathmandu Post,10 march 2013

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New Loadshedding schedule from 11 March 2013