Nepal’s electricity export to India has reached as high as 850 MW in the past two weeks, thanks to the soaring water flow in rivers along with increased rainfall this year.

According to the records of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the country is now exporting more than 20,500 megawatt hours of electricity to India on a daily basis. Rajan Dhakal, spokesperson for the NEA, said that electricity production has increased by a notable amount in the past two weeks. “Due to this reason, the NEA has been exporting unutilized electricity in excess after domestic consumption to the neighboring country,” said Dhakal.

As most of the hydropower projects are run-of-river types, the country produces excess electricity with the onset of the rainy season, while it faces shortage of electricity during the dry season. Dhakal said most of the rivers associated with hydropower plants have now had optimum water levels mainly over the past two weeks.

According to the NEA, it has been producing 13,512 MWh of electricity from its subsidiaries. Likewise, the private developers have been producing 44,553 MWh of electricity.

Currently, the country’s peak hour demand for electricity stands at 2,111 MW, while the country has been producing around 3,000 MW in total. The surplus electricity of around 850 MW is being exported to India. This has given hope that the country’s export earnings of electricity could increase further this year.

In the fiscal year 2024/25, Nepal made record high earnings of Rs 17.46 billion from cross-border electricity trade. Of the total amount, revenue from energy export to India was recorded at Rs 17.19 billion while remaining Rs 266.70 million was generated from electricity export to Bangladesh.

Nepal became a net electricity exporter for the first time in FY 2023/24, with the earnings from electricity export exceeding the expense on the imported electricity from India. The NEA gained a net profit of Rs 120 million from the cross-border trade of electricity.

Giving continuity to selling electricity to Bangladesh, the NEA has been exporting 40 MW of electricity to the SAARC country since mid-June. For this purpose, Bangladesh has opened a letter of credit, clearing the way for the transaction.

Nepal has received permission to export up to 940 MW in total-400 MW under a medium-term bilateral agreement and 540 MW through the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX). Although the country has increased its electricity export by a notable amount, it is yet to meet the target of sending full 940 MW, which the NEA had planned to export by the first week of July this year.