Nepal starts export of surplus electricity to India

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) started exporting 39 MW of electricity to India from Wednesday midnight, with the onset of the monsoon in the Himalayan country, and the river levels increasing.

Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai, spokesperson for the NEA, said that Nepal has started exporting 39 MW of electricity from Wednesday midnight.

"The NEA has put electricity on sale every 15 minutes in IEX, India's competitive energy exchange market, from Wednesday midnight," he said.

According to NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising, two hydropower projects based in Nuwakot have been supplying 39 megawatts of electricity to India since Wednesday midnight. The projects had supplied power to India last year too.

Currently, the water level in Nepal’s rivers has significantly increased due to rainfall.
The projects supplying the surplus production to India are the 24 MW Trishuli Hydropower and the 15 MW Devighat Project.

The state-owned power authority in May had called for tenders seeking proposals from Indian companies for the sale of 200 MW of electricity generated from hydropower projects in Nepal for five months.

India had recently allowed Nepal to sell an additional 325 megawatts of electricity in the Indian market.

During the April visit of Nepal PM Sher Bahadur Deuba to India, New Delhi had been positive on the export of surplus electricity. The two sides had inked a vision statement on cooperation in the power sector.

In the vision statement, Nepal PM Deuba had appreciated India's recent cross-border electricity trade regulations that have enabled key partners like Nepal to access India's market and trade power with India.

Both prime ministers also agreed on bi-directional power trade with appropriate access to electricity markets in both countries based on mutual benefits, market demand, and applicable domestic regulations of each country.

The total power production in Nepal at the time is 2,300 MW and some projects are likely to come into operation by the end of the current fiscal year.

The demand for electricity is excessively high in India following a significant temperature rise there and the ceiling price of the purchase and sale of electricity is Indian Rs 12 (Nepal Rs 19.20) per unit.

Spokesperson Bhattarai said that NEA has been selling electricity at INR 6.28 per unit while exporting electricity to India. Sometimes, NEA has been receiving a maximum of Rs 12. Nepal has received the approval to sell 364 MW of electricity at competitive rates in the Indian energy market.

Nepal will export the electricity through the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur 400 kV interstate transmission line during the rainy season.

(With UNI inputs)