Kathmandu, November 15
Nepal has commenced electricity exports to Bangladesh starting Friday, following approval from India’s Central Electricity Authority, allowing electricity transit via India. This marks the first instance of Nepal exporting power to a third country beyond its primary market in India.
Energy Minister Deepak Khadka of Nepal, India’s Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, and Bangladesh’s Energy and Water Resources Ministry Advisor Mohammed Fazlul Kabir formally inaugurated the export in a virtual ceremony. The arrangement initially involves 40 megawatts of electricity being exported to Bangladesh for one day.
The export deal, reached on October 3, enables the sale of 40 megawatts of electricity from Nepal to Bangladesh through Indian territory. The agreement mandates approval from the relevant Indian authority, which was received later than planned, postponing the original start date from November 1 to November 8.
The agreement stipulates that Nepal will export 40 megawatts of electricity to Bangladesh annually from June 15 to November 15. Nepal’s Energy Minister Khadka secured this arrangement with his Indian counterpart Khattar during a recent visit to India.
Under the terms, Nepal will sell the electricity to Bangladesh at approximately 8.64 Nepali rupees (about 6.4 U.S. cents) per unit. Bangladesh will cover the “wheeling charge” for utilising India’s NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN) transmission line. The electricity will be metered at Muzaffarpur in India, where Nepal will bear transmission losses until that point, while Bangladesh will cover losses incurred from Muzaffarpur to its border, resulting in a projected unit cost of about 7.6 cents by the time it reaches Bangladesh.
Bangladesh will import the electricity through the 400 kV Baharampur (India)–Bheramara (Bangladesh) transmission line, which it currently uses for power imports from NVVN.
This development opens a new revenue stream for Nepal, which has set an ambitious target of exporting 10,000 megawatts of electricity to India and 5,000 megawatts to Bangladesh in the coming years.
