Kathmandu, Feb. 5: The construction of 220/132 kV substation in Barhabise Municipality of Sindhupalchowk has reached its final stage. The final phase of the construction of the substation is going on with a goal of completion within two months, according to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).

The power transformers to be placed in the substation have been connected. The power transformers of 220/132 kV, 160 MVA and 132/11 kV, 5 MVA are connected in the substation. The installation of substation equipment based on Gas Insulated System (GIS) technology has reached its final phase.

All the equipment to be placed in the control room have been supplied to the construction site, said the NEA. The overall progress of construction of 220/132 kV substation is about 95 per cent. Another 400 kV substation is also under construction in Barhabise. 

The electricity of the 102-megawatt Madhya Bhotekoshi Hydropower Project constructed in Sindhupalchowk under the leadership of Chilime Hydropower Company, a subsidiary of Nepal Electricity Authority, will be connected to this substation.

The electricity generated from Madhya Bhotekoshi will be connected to Barhabise substation through 220 kV transmission line. 

The project has already constructed towers of 220 kV single circuit transmission line of about four km long from the switchyard of its power plant to Bahrabise substation.

About two km of transmission line wire has been extended. The project is unable to expand two km of wire due to the obstruction of the local residents of Palanti located in Barhabise Municipality-3 and 4.

At present, the construction of the structures of Madhya Bhotekoshi Hydropower Project have completed and they are being tested. The NEA is under pressure to complete the Barhabise substation as soon as possible to prevent the wastage of electricity generated from the project without being connected to the national transmission line.

The NEA’s high-level team including Managing Director Kul Man Ghising, and Deputy Managing Director of Transmission Directorate Dirghayu Kumar Shrestha inspected the project site Saturday and instructed to complete the remaining works swiftly.

Ghising instructed to complete the construction of the substation within two months by increasing the manpower as all the equipment have been supplied and some of the connections are in the final stage.

“The progress of the last phase of substation construction is satisfactory, the construction of new Khimti-Barhabise and Barhabise-Lapsiphedi (Kathmandu) transmission lines has also reached the final stage, if there are no other problems, the construction will be completed within next 2-3 months. Let’s make the last initiative and try from our side,” he said.

The construction of the substation has been delayed due to the weak performance of the joint venture of the Chinese companies Guangxi Transmission and Substation Construction and Shenzhen Claw Electronics, which received the contract for the construction of the Barhabise substation, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Authority has temporarily made an alternative arrangement for the electricity supply of Madhya Bhotekoshi. However, it is a compulsion for the construction of 220/132 kV Barhabise substation.