This season, Nepal will have single-day sale of 40 MW of electricity to Bangladesh today

In a major breakthrough, Nepal can now sell its electricity to Bangladesh with India finally agreeing to materialize the tripartite agreement on allowing Nepal for cross-border power trade with the SAARC country via Indian land.

According to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) officials, India has finally agreed to allow Nepal to use the Indian power grid to transmit locally produced electricity to Bangladesh. Since a tripartite agreement signed between Nepal, India and Bangladesh on October 3, Nepal has been waiting for India’s green signal to move forward with its ambitious plan.

Chandan Kumar Ghosh, spokesperson for the NEA, informed Republica about India’s recent decision on the issue. “Although we are yet to receive an official letter, we have been informed that the Indian authority has given the go-ahead for cross-border electricity trade with Bangladesh,” said Ghosh.

This is the first time that Nepal will be exporting its electricity to a third country apart from India. In the fiscal year 2023/24, Nepal earned Rs 16.93 billion by exporting 1.94 billion units of electricity to India.

Last month, a memorandum of understanding was signed in Kathmandu between Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Kulman Ghising, CEO of NTPC Vidyut Byapar Nigam Deino Naran, and Chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) Mohamad Rizwan Karim. Over the period, authorities of three countries were busy in paperwork to materialize the plan, according to an NEA official.

Ghosh said Nepal can now export its electricity to Bangladesh just for Friday for this season as the final date of electricity trade with Bangladesh has been fixed for November 15. “We will export 40 MW of electricity to Bangladesh only for a single day this time. However, it provides Nepal with a major breakthrough to access to the alternative market in the coming years,” he added.

Nepal was supposed to export its electricity to Bangladesh three months before as the three countries were scheduled to sit for the agreement on July 28. But the tripartite meeting was postponed due to the protests in Bangladesh against the quota (reservation) system that reserves jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.

As per the agreement signed in October, Nepal can export its surplus electricity to Bangladesh via India from June 15 to November 15 every year. The NEA and the BPDB have consented to carry out cross-border energy trade at the rate of 6.40 US cents per unit.

In aggregate, Bangladesh will be getting 28,800 MWh of electricity per month and 144,000 MWh of electricity in five months of the peak production season. Based on the proposed rate of the electricity tariff, Nepal will earn a total of US $9.216 million by selling electricity to Bangladesh during the period. The NEA is exporting electricity produced from the 25 MW Trishuli and 22 MW Chilime hydropower projects to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh, in its strategic plan, aims to purchase 9,000 MW of electricity from Nepal in pursuit of clean energy by 2040. In August 2022, Nepal agreed to export 40 MW of electricity to Bangladesh in the initial stage by using the 400 kV double circuit cross-border power transmission line in Baharampur-Bheramara, a section of India-Bangladesh border. With the consent of India, Nepal will be using the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line to send its electricity to India.

India revised its ‘Cross-border Electricity Import and Export Guideline’ in 2020. Through the policy, India takes a lenient policy to permit its neighboring countries to use its grid, to achieve a substantial shift in regional cooperation, according to The Economic Times, an Indian media.

By Rajesh khanal