KATHMANDU, Nov 13: On the day of Laxmi Puja of this year's Tihar, the peak demand for electricity in the country was recorded at 1,438 megawatts.
Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has mentioned that the peak demand on Laxmi Puja Sunday at 6 PM increased by 133 megawatts to 1438 megawatts compared to last year. The electricity peak demand on the day of Laxmi Puja, which fell on October 24 last year, was 1,305 MW.
As industries and factories are closed during Tihar, the recorded peak demand does not include industrial customers. This year, the NEA had projected the peak demand to reach 1,357 MW and managed the electricity supply accordingly. The power houses within the country produced and supplied during the peak demand on the day of Lakshmi Puja.
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Similarly, NEA has stated that 517 megawatts of electricity saved after meeting the electricity demand in the country was also exported to India during the peak time. Last year only 406 MW was exported during Laxmi Puja peak time.
On the day of Laxmi Puja, the total electricity demand in the system including export has been recorded at 1,955 MW. Last year the peak demand of the system was 1,711 MW.
This year, on the day of Laxmi Puja, the peak demand of Kathmandu Valley has been recorded at 366 MW. Last year it was 342 MW.
NEA's Managing Director Kulman Ghising was himself deployed in the control room of the Load Dispatch Center at Syuchatar on Sunday to get information about power demand and supply management on the day of Laxmi Puja.
Ghising said that seven years ago, 254 megawatts were being imported to meet the demand of Laxmi Puja day, and now it is a historic leap in the energy sector to reach a situation where domestic production is used to export the saved electricity. He mentioned that the peak demand of Laxmi Puja has increased by 10 percent over last year, which is positive.
