KATHMANDU, JUNE 2

With increased power output, the Nepal Electricity Authority has begun exporting surplus power to India.

The current peak demand for electricity in the country is 1,643 megawatt. Peak demand describes the periods when the electricity use reaches the highest and the demand normally remains high in morning and evening hours and the demand goes down during day and night hours.

When there is oversupply, the electricity goes to waste and to deal with the situation Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has started selling surplus power to India.

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

Currently, water level in Nepal's rivers has significantly increased and it was due to timely rains.

As the NEA said, the projects supplying the surplus production to India are 24 MW Trishuli Hydropower and the 15 MW Devighat Project.

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.

According to NEA Spokesperson, in the competitive energy exchange market of India, Nepal exports and imports electricity on the basis of blocks that are fixed every 15 minutes. The price of each block also varies being based on the demand.

Now 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 IRs 12 (Rs 19.20) per unit.