Ippan asked the authority for a response to the 11 demands that he had been raising for a long time, from extending the deadline of RCOD to canceling the provision of contingency.
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The Association of Independent Power Producers, Nepal (IPPAN) has placed 11-point demands before the Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority, Hitendradev Shakya. A delegation led by the senior vice president of IPPAN, Mohan Kumar Dangi, met the executive director Shakya on Monday and asked him to quickly fulfill the demands they have been raising since the past.
Senior Vice President Dangi said that 11 demands, from the extension of the RCOD to the cancellation of contingency arrangements, which have been raised by Ippan for a long time, have not been heard and demanded the authority's response regarding the said demands .
The topics raised by IPPAAN include extending the RCOD deadline, canceling the management of wasted electricity and contingency arrangements, unconditionally opening the PPA to achieve the target of 28,500 MW and reopening the PPA up to 10 MW as soon as possible, removing the conditions placed by the authority when opening the PPA for 5,000 MW, canceling the hydrology penalty, addressing the impact on the project due to the transmission line, canceling the Take and Pay PPA. There were demands that there should be, posted rate should be provided, energy table should be modified, access energy should be managed, loss of transmission line should be removed and electricity authority's official opinion about hydropower (clarity about the statement that hydropower is not necessary after solar and Barty) should be given.
Senior Vice President Dangi said that 22 projects are still running under contingency and said that the provisions of those projects should be cancelled. He also said that since the inclusion of Take and Pay in the budget, the PPA of projects smaller than 10 megawatts has been stopped and it should be started immediately.
IPPA Vice President Ram Prasad Acharya said that if the Electricity Authority does not do the PPA, the Electricity Development Department should also stop giving licenses and should not make a connection agreement. He says that it is not fair for one body to show interest and another body to say that it will not buy electricity after investment.
He also said that there should not be a two-tier policy of small and large than 10 megawatts . He said that facilities given to small projects should be equal to big projects as well.
IPPAN General Secretary Balram Khatiwada said that recently there have been complaints that the private sector works that should be completed by the Electricity Authority are not being carried out quickly and requested Shakya not to move forward by increasing the distance with the private promoters . He expressed concern that investors may flee if the PPA of 10 MW small projects is also stopped.
IPPAN working committee member Uttarkumar Shrestha said that RCOD extension should not be seen only as force majeure. He said that when a bridge was swept away by a flood in one district, the project in that district got additional RCOD and had to transport goods from the same bridge, but the project in another district did not get this facility.
Shrestha asked why the RCOD of all projects should not be extended even though slow production of electricity would benefit the Electricity Authority in the current situation of not being able to manage electricity. Kuveramani Nepal, member of the working committee, said that if 1/1 megawatt of solar is allowed in the power house of all the projects, it will be easier to manage the winter demand. But for that, he said, the electricity rate should be the same as the rate that hydropower gets in winter.
Working Committee member Shankar Basyal said that the subsidy given by the government for cooking gas should be spent on building structures including electric ovens and increase electricity consumption.
I will take the proposal to the board of directors to solve the problem: Shakya
Responding to the problems of Ippan, Shakya, the executive director of the authority, said that the committee formed for the extension of RCOD has submitted a report and based on that, the deadline will be extended.
In the case of some projects, decisions should be taken based on the condition of Shakya, the officials of Ipan responded in unison and raised the question why not extend the deadline of all the projects at the same time, even though it would be beneficial to the authority itself if the electricity comes late. Shakya, showing fear of the authority, replied that the contingency arrangement cannot be canceled immediately.
'In order to cancel the contingency, either exports should increase or domestic consumption should increase . Otherwise we cannot remove it . If I pay money despite the clause, I will fall into the trap of the authorities,' Shakya said .
In order to solve this problem, there is no option but to work together with the private sector to increase the capacity of the line and build a new one. He said that 4 agencies including the private sector have jointly started the construction of transmission line in the West Seti Corridor and said that the same should be done in the future.
Shakya says that when the private sector builds a transmission line, income will be guaranteed in the same modality as in the PPA of hydropower generation. He also said that he is going to do PPA for more projects by ensuring that the 5000 megawatt capacity projects which have been under PPA and the 4 thousand 900 megawatt capacity projects which are now under PPA will be directly exported to India for 6 months .
For that, the authority will issue a notice soon and call the promoters for discussion and confirm the date of production and then make an agreement that they can provide so much electricity to India on this date according to the time of the project's electricity, Shakya said.
He also indicated that if the promoter fails to provide electricity at the time stated, he will have to pay a fine according to the rules of India. However, he said that the Electricity Authority alone cannot take all the risks in all these works, and he has also requested IPPAN for risk sharing. Shakya also said that another option to open PPA is to open the way for the private sector to buy and sell electricity.
Shakya's clarification on saying 'hydropower is not needed'
A few days ago in a public program, Shakya has clarified the issue by saying that the authority will go after hydropower. He expressed concern that since solar energy will become cheaper in the future, it will be cheaper than hydroelectric power and battery storage will also be possible.
'Solar is getting cheaper, that's why if cheap electricity comes from here, what will hydro do? . He said that such a situation will occur after 10 years, not that it is not needed. Shakya also said that since hydro consumes 60 percent of domestic goods, consumes domestic manpower and everything from solar panels to batteries is imported, the contribution of hydropower to the economy is more.
'Hydropower is relevant these days . Comparing the prices of tomorrow, solar seems to be cheaper. But solar doesn't boost the economy . I am aware of that,' Shakya said.
On Ippan's suggestion that the gas subsidy should be spent on cooking with electricity to increase electricity consumption, Shakya said that the distribution cost would be expensive and since electricity is consumed only in the morning and evening for cooking, it cannot be promoted.
