KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 27
India has given permission to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to export additional 40 megawatts of electricity from two more hydroelectric projects.
According to NEA, the Central Electricity Authority of India has approved the sale of surplus power from two more hydropower projects - 25 MW Kabeli B-1 and 20 MW Lower Modi - at competitive rate in the Indian energy market .
With this, altogether 452.6 MW surplus power can now be exported to India from 10 hydropower projects.
Stating June 2, NEA had been exporting 39 MW of surplus power, including 24 MW produced from Trishuli hydropower and 15 MW from Devighat powerhouse.
Then from June 10, NEA started exporting up to 364 MW of additional electricity produced from six hydropower plants daily to the Indian market through 400kV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur cross-border transmission line at a competitive rate.
According to the authority, power was traded at a competitive rate set by the IEX - dividing 24 hours into 96 blocks of 15 minutes each.
The NEA has halted export of surplus power to India since December 19 as production from the river-based hydroelectric power stations decreased.
NEA has generated net income of Rs 11.16 billion via trading 1.36 billion units of surplus power at competitive rate in the Indian energy market as of December 18.
With the current domestic production insufficient to meet peak local power demand, NEA has started importing 4,000 MWh of power at competitive rate in the Indian energy market on a daily basis since last two weeks.
The current electricity demand of the country stands around 1,680 MW, while the domestic production is 1,000 MW.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 28, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
