Kathmandu, June 10

Energy secretaries of Nepal and India are meeting in the Indian capital of New Delhi on June 27 and 28 to discuss issues related to cross-border electricity transmission, grid connectivity and power trade between the two neighbouring countries.

This is the third meeting of the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) since its formation in October 2014, when historic Nepal-India Agreement on Electric Power Trade, Cross-Border Transmission, Interconnection and Grid Connectivity was signed.

The meeting will be led by Nepal’s Energy Secretary Suman Prasad Sharma and Indian Power Secretary Pradeep Kumar Pujari.

“We are still in the phase of finalising meeting’s agenda, so I can’t give details at the moment,” Sharma told The Himalayan Times, adding, “Talks, however, will revolve around cross-border power transmission, grid connectivity and energy trade between Nepal and India.”

The first meeting of the JSC was held in New Delhi in November 2014. The second meeting was then held in Kathmandu in January 2016.

During the second meeting held here, both the countries had agreed to prepare a regulatory framework within six months to implement bilateral power trade agreement signed in October 2014.

At that time, both countries had also agreed to bring 132kV Kataiya-Kusaha and Raxaul-Parwanipur transmission lines into operation within September 2016. Once these lines come into operation, Nepal can immediately import 100MW of additional power from India.

“We will discuss this matter during the upcoming meeting,” Sharma said.

During the last JSC meeting, discussions on expediting construction of three 400kV cross-border transmission lines, namely Butwal-Gorakhpur, Muzaffarpur-Dhalkebar (Second Line) and Lumki-Bareli, were also held.

Earlier, a Nepal-India technical committee had proposed development of six 400kV cross-border transmission lines for cross-border power trade. They are: Attariya-Uttarakhand, Lamki-Bareli, Kohalpur-Rupaidiha, Butwal-Gorakhpur, Muzaffarpur-Dhalkebar and Inaruwa-Bihar.

Of these, construction of Butwal-Gorakhpur, Muzaffarpur-Dhalkebar (Second Line), and Lamki-Bareli is scheduled to be completed within 2022.

Development of Butwal-Gorakhpur transmission line will help in export of electricity generated by the 600MW Upper Marsyangdi-2 hydroelectric project to India.

Similarly, second Muzaffarpur-Dhalkebar transmission line will help evacuate power generated by 900MW Arun-3 hydroelectric project, while Lamki-Bareli transmission line will help in export of electricity generated by 900MW Upper Karnali hydroelectric project.

Nepal is eyeing generation of 13,700 MW of hydroelectricity within 2025 and 44,000 MW of electricity within 2035. Of this quantum of hydroelectricity, 12,000 MW can be exported within 2025 and 24,000 MW can be exported within 2035.