Electric Distribution Network

3.6.2 Electric Distribution Network

Urban areas around the globe have witnessed rapid growth in the last few decades. The population as well as the standard of living has increased, resulting in increased demand for energy sources. This burden is to be carried almost in totality by the electrical distribution system. The electricity supply in Gelephu has not met the demand in recent times due to various reasons; the prime reason being ever increasing demand. The Government is rightly discouraging the use of timber and firewood and this has added pressure on the limited power supply. Alternative energy sources are not utilized to their potential. Use of solar energy is still in infancy and not very popular. At present, very few houses and public buildings use passive solar energy gain.

A national grid substation is located along the west of Gelephu-Trongsa Highway, close to the border adjoining the PWD workshop. The substation receives power supply from the Kurichu Hydro-electric project. This substation is now the main source of infeed into the sub-transmission system of the town. There are about 882 electric connections with in the town limit. Electricity from Gelephu is supplied to twenty neighboring small villages. The sub-transmission system consists of 11 KV overhead feeders running along the Gelephu-Trongsa Highway from the main grid substation, supplying electricity to fifteen transformers located at various places in the town.

At times electricity from the diesel generator located in the Bhutan Power Corporation premises is also connected to this distribution system. Gelephu’s current consumption is about 3.1 KV, whereas if the power demand reaches 6 KV, Gelephu can possess an independent sub-station. Thus, the problem is not one of power availability; it is one of reaching a break even point to install a larger sub-station. With the advent of a new industrial estate in the town region, this problem will surely be over-come.

Today the town faces the acute problem of frequent power-cuts. Distribution is entirely covered by overhead cables. There exists no underground distribution system in the town. The dense overhead network in the town core is one of the major concerns.

3.6.3 Street Lighting

The Gelephu Municipal Corporation provides and maintains the street lighting facilities for the town. The existing on-street lighting facilities consist of Sodium Vapour lamps and Mercury Vapour lamps, installed on the roads and in a few office compounds. Currently not all the roads of Gelephu have street lighting facilities, due to the lack of finances and inadequate human resources. Roads in the town core and the important arteries which lead to the surrounding areas have street lights, while the majority of roads in the extended area lack any lighting facilities.

Sr. No.	Road / Locality	Sodium Vapour Lamps (Nos.)	Mercury Lamps (Nos.)	Total Lamps
1.	Forest Rangers Office to Indo-Bhutan Border checkpost	23	20	43
2.	Royal Guest House to National Malaria Control Program Campus(Present RBA camp)	7	-	7
3.	National Malaria Control Program Campus(Present RBA camp) to Gelephu Dratshang	9	2	11
4.	BPC Office to Hospital Entrance	4	-	4
5.	Dungkhag Administration to Trongsa Highway	2	2	4
6.	Dungkhag Administration to Bhutan Telecom Office	3	2	5
7.	Bhutan Telecom Office to Tsewang Goempa junction	7	-	7
8.	RSTA Office to Lovely Pan Shop	5	-	5
9.	Revenue and Customs Office to Losal Cinema to Truck Parking	4	4	8
10.	Bhutan Telecom Office to Truck Parking	5	2	7
11.	Truck Parking to Public Toilet	2	4	6
12.	Norkhil Lam	6	6	12
13.	Regional Trade & Industry Office to Dungkhag Administration	2	5	7
14.	RBA Camp	2	15	17
15.	Border Check Post	4	-	4
16.	Miscellaneous (including Dunkhag Compound and Royal Guest House Compound)	10	5	15
	Total	95	67	162

3.6.4 Telecommunications Distribution Network

The modern era has brought all the facilities to Gelephu’s doorstep, with telecommunications being one of the most important conveniences. It has drastically affected life-styles by shrinking the world. The increase in population, as well as the standard of living, has resulted in increased demand for telephone connections. The telecom network in Gelephu is formed by a few underground lines, with a majority of overhead lines. Most faults occurring in the telecommunication system are related to overhead lines and hence the Bhutan Telecom has plans to convert them into an underground network.

There were about 936 telephone connections in Gelephu town as of May 2004. The growing demand for introducing a mobile phone service has been responded by Bhutan Telecom by introducing mobile phone facilities.

3.6.5 Issues and Over-all Characteristics of existing Utility Services within the Town

Electricity Distribution Network

The existing electricity distribution network of Gelephu town is an outcome of an ad-hoc implementation strategy, considering only the immediate needs of the town. A planned distribution system is lacking, which has its primary concern as future development. The entire distribution system to the east of the Gelephu-Trongsa highway needs to be re-planned as a part of the future development proposal, which demands a policy decision from the concern department. At places the existing distribution network is old and needs up-gradation and expansion. The overhead network in densely inhabited areas, particularly the high tension line bisecting the town, poses a serious threat of hazards and needs to be converted into an underground network.

Installation of more substations in areas of high overall demand, and high peak demand, is required. There is a lack of modern maintenance and goods stores which needs immediate consideration. Increasing pressure on the Gelephu sub-station due to the increased demand of future development needs careful study. Conversion of the existing over-head electric distribution system into an under-ground system needs due consideration in the future.

The telecommunication distribution system faces interference between the telecommunication network and the electrical distribution network, wherever they run close to one another, causing damage to telecom cables and disruption in telecom services. Though efforts have been made to meet the demand of telephone connections, by the provision of optical fibers in new lines, it is not complete due to high cost implications. Feasibility to introduce an optical fiber cable system in the long-term should be explored given the potential for intense economic development in the region. Expansion of the telephone network within the extended municipal limits, through a planned network should be worked out immediately. Conversion of the existing over-head telecommunication distribution system into an under-ground system, needs due consideration at the earliest.