Additional 251 MW Electricity to be Exported to India
August 20, 2024 | Investopaper
India has agreed to purchase an additional 251 megawatts of electricity from a dozen hydropower projects in Nepal.The approval was granted by the relevant Indian authority, allowing electricity export from these 12 hydropower projects.
According to a press release by the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, for the first time, Nepal has secured the opportunity to export electricity to Bihar under a medium-term power purchase agreement. With this, Nepal’s total approved export capacity to India has reached 941 megawatts, up from the previous 690 megawatts from 16 projects. Now, electricity from 28 different hydropower projects will be exported to India.
Last fiscal year, Nepal became a net electricity exporter, earning Rs. 16.93 billion from electricity sales. This revenue is expected to increase further this year with the approval of the additional 251 megawatts. In October 2021, India had initially allowed the export of 39 megawatts from Nepal, and within less than three years, this figure has grown over 24 times.
Nepal started exporting electricity by selling it in India’s “Day Ahead Market” through the Indian Energy Exchange. Later, India also granted access to the “Real-Time Market.” Additionally, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has signed medium-term power sale agreements with power distribution companies (DISCOMs) in Haryana and Bihar. Furthermore, India has included hydropower imports from Nepal as part of its Hydropower Purchase Obligation (HPO), encouraging Indian buyers to import electricity from Nepal.
The long-term energy agreement between Nepal and India envisions selling up to 10,000 megawatts of electricity from Nepal to India over the next decade. In the first year alone, nearly 1,000 megawatts have already been exported.
Although Nepal had planned to finalize a deal to sell 40 megawatts of electricity to Bangladesh, the agreement has been postponed due to recent political developments in Bangladesh.
