PM Dahal inaugurates 400-kV Hetauda Sub-station

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' inaugurated the 400-kV Hetauda Substation amidst a programme organized by the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) in Hetauda today. The substation is located at Thana Bharyang of Hetauda Sub-Metropolitan City-11 in the Makawanpur district. It is the third-largest automatic substation in the country based on the Gas Insulated System (GIS) and was brought into operation (charged) last Friday.

Along with this, two other substations with 220 kV and 132/11 kV capacities have been constructed at Thana Bharyang by the Nepal-India Electricity Transmission and Trade Project, and they have also been charged since last Friday.

The GIS technology-based automatic Dhalkebar substation is the largest such substation in the country, while the Inaruwa substation is the second largest, and the Hetauda substation is the third largest. These structures have been constructed to ensure a reliable and high-quality east-west power supply within the country and to facilitate power trade with India.

With the construction of the substation at Hetauda, infrastructure capable of transmitting around 4,000 megawatts of electricity has been prepared. It is expected that the domestic electricity supply will be further strengthened and the electricity trade with India will be expanded, as 4,000 megawatts of power can be transmitted east-west from Dhalkebar with the completion of the Hetauda-Dhalkebar-Inaruwa 400-kV transmission line.

A double-circuit transmission line with a 400-kV capacity that will be constructed from Ratmate of Nuwakot through the US assistance Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) will be connected to the Hetauda substation. The necessary infrastructure has been built at the Hetauda substation for this purpose.

The Hetauda, Dhalkebar, and Inaruwa 400-kV substation expansion project was initiated through the joint investment of the Government of Nepal and NEA under the National Electricity Development Decade programme. All three substations under the project have been constructed.

The contract agreement for the construction of the 220/132/11-kV Hetauda substation was signed in December 2018. It was constructed by the Nepal-India Electricity Transmission and Trade Project with government and NEA investment and a soft loan from the World Bank. The estimated cost of the 400, 220, and 132 kV Hetauda substations is Rs 3 billion.