The construction of 400 kV Inaruwa substation of Bhokraha Narsingh Rural Municipality-4 of Sunsari has been completed.

The second largest automatic 400 kV substation of Nepal based on a gas insulated system (GIS) was completed and charged on Monday, said Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).

For east-west electricity supply and electricity trade with India, Dhalkebar is the first automatic substation in the country and Inaruwa is the second largest substation with GIS technology.

Another substation of 220/132/33 kV in Inaruwa has already been completed and is operational. Hetauda-Dhalkebar-Inarwva 400 kV substation expansion project built in 400/220 kV Inrauwa substation has three power transformers of 315 MVA capacity.

With a capacity of 945 MVA, after the construction of the Inaruwa-Dhalkebar 400 kV transmission line is completed, about 4,000 megawatts of electricity can be supplied from the Inaruwa substation. The work of extending wires in the Inaruwa-Dhalkebar transmission line is going on.

Managing Director of NEA Kul Man Ghising said that the Inaruwa substation is the backbone for the transmission of electricity generated by hydropower projects in various districts of Koshi Province, for local consumption and for export to India.

In addition to the electricity supply in the national transmission system through the substation, local supply will also be improved.

This will improve the voltage of the area and the electricity supply will be reliable and qualitative.

“From this substation, Inaruwa-Purnia 400 kV international line for electricity trade with India and Inaruwa-Anarmani 400 kV transmission line for trade between Nepal, India and Bangladesh has been proposed,” he said.

“Inaruwa substation has become another big hub for east-west electricity supply and for more electricity supply towards India and regional electricity trade,” said Ghising.

The electricity generated from the hydropower projects constructed on the Arun and Tamor rivers and their tributaries will be connected to the Inaruwa substation through the Koshi Corridor 220 kV transmission line.

The construction of the Inaruwa-Basantapur-Tumlingtar section of the Koshi corridor has been completed, while the Basantapur-Dhungesanghu section is under construction.

Similarly, the Tumlingtar-Shitalpati 220 kV transmission line project is also under construction. It is proposed to construct Arun Hub-Inaruwa 400 kV transmission line.

Project Chief Shukra Devkota said that the Inaruwa substation has been built in such a way that it can be further upgraded in the future.

The construction of the substation was affected because the equipment and technicians could not come due to the floods in the Tarai during the rainy season, the restrictions and prohibitions imposed for the prevention and control of the global spread of COVID-19 pandemic.