Nepal to export 40-MW electricity to Bangladesh using Indian transmission lines
Kathmandu, Oct. 3
Nepal is all set to export electricity produced here to
Bangladesh.
This historic milestone was achieved after Nepal India and
Bangladesh signed a tripartite agreement that allows Nepal sell its electricity
to Bangladesh using land and transmission infrastructure of India. Nepal
Electricity Authority (NEA), Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and NTPC
Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) signed the agreement at a programme organised in
Kathmandu on Thursday.
Executive Director of the NEA, Kulman Ghishing, Chairman of
BPDB, Mohammad Rezaul Karim, and CEO of NVVN, Renu Narang signed the agreement
on behalf of their respective organisation and country. Minister for Energy,
Water Resources and Irrigation, Deepak Khadka of Nepal, Minister for Forest,
Environment, Climate Change and Water Resources, Syeda Rizwana Hasan of
Bangladesh and Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Naveen Srivastava were present on
the occasion.
In the first phase, Nepal will export 40 megawatt of
electricity to Bangladesh during the wet season – six months from mid-June to
mid-November, for the next five years. According to the NEA, electricity
generated from the NEA developed companies 25 MW Trishuli and 22 MW Chilime
hydroelectricity projects will be exported to Bangladesh at the rate of 6.40 US
cent. Ghishing said that Nepal is likely to earn US$ 9.2 million (about Rs.
1.22 billion) a year.
Meter of the energy export would be installed in
Mujaffarpur, India and the losses up to that point would be borne by the NEA
and losses from Mujaffarpur to Bangladesh border would be the responsibility of
Bangladeshi company while the wheeling charges for the use of NVVN's
transmission line would be paid by Bangladesh.
15,000MW to India, Bangladesh
Ghishing said that Nepal has a target of exporting 10,000-MW
electricity to India, and 5,000 MW to Bangladesh. Nepal has signed a Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) with India in January this year for the export following
India's announcement in September 2023 to import the electricity of that amount
for a 10-year period.
Earlier in December 2023, Bangladesh had approved a proposal
from the BPDB to import 40-MW electricity from Nepal. In the following months,
the NEA and BPDB had also agreed upon the rate of energy trade and preparations
were made for the final agreement but the political upheaval in Bangladesh
affected the process. Before the fall of the Sheikh Hasina's government, the
two countries were in the final phase of inking electricity trade agreement for
40-MW and Bangladesh's minister for state for energy was scheduled to come to
Nepal.
A prolonged effort
This historic feat was achieved after a hiatus of about a
decade. In its Energy System Master Plan formulated in 2016, Bangladesh had
mentioned that it would import electricity from Nepal. But there was an
obligation to use the Indian infrastructure and a fresh agreement with the
southern neighbour to transmit electricity from Nepal to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh had said that it could buy as much as 9000-Mw
electricity from Nepal that could provide an immense opportunity for the latter
to reduce trade deficit with the former. In 2018, Bangladesh had pointed to the
need for a trilateral and multilateral framework for the energy trade in the
region.
The then Bangladeshi ambassador to Nepal, Mashfee Binte
Shams had said that the power-starving south Asian nation was even ready to
make investment of up to US$ 1 billion in hydropower projects in Nepal. By
then, India had given a positive nod for the facilitation in Bangladesh's power
trade with Nepal and Bhutan. Bangladesh, the country that is being upgraded to
a 'developing nation' from a Least Developed Country (LDC) along with Nepal in
2026, will require 34,000-MW of power by 2030 to sustain its growth.
Last year, a secretary-level committee of Nepal and
Bangladesh had agreed to develop 683-MW reservoir-based Sunkoshi III
Hydroelectricity project with joint investment. Now India has also been
incorporated as an investor in the project.
Likewise, in 2019, Bangladesh government had decided to
purchase 500-MW electricity from the GMR Upper Karnali Hydroelectricity Project
but the project development is still in a limbo.
Meanwhile in March 2021, Nepal was making preparations to
export about 200-MW electricity during wet season to Bangladesh by July end
that year. But that remained just a talk.
A regional achievement
Speaking at the agreement signing programme, Energy Minister
Deepak Khadka of Nepal said that the agreement is a regional achievement.
"Nepal's success in exporting electricity to a third
country for the first time in its history has become an important corner stone
for the South Asian region," he said.
According to him, the Nepal-Bangladesh energy sector
cooperation agreement reached in 2018 is the result of continuous efforts and
it is important and historic not only for Nepal but also for South Asia and
BBIN region.
Minister Khadka expressed his belief that the agreement will
further strengthen the friendly relations between Nepal's neighboring countries
and said that the Government of Nepal is ready to cooperate with India and
Bangladesh to achieve the goals in the energy sector.
Bangladeshi Water Resources Minister Syeda Rizwana Hasan,
mentioned that the tripartite agreement is a corner stone in the direction of
creating common prosperity and mutual commitment of South Asian countries.
"This agreement is of great importance to safely achieve the national
demand of Bangladesh and the global needs and the goal of sustainable
development," she said.
Likewise, Indian envoy to Nepal, Srivastava, said that the
cooperation among the three countries will be further expanded in the future.
Ghishing, ED of NEA, said that this agreement is a result of
mutual cooperation and mutual understanding of the expanding energy sector in
South Asia. He said that Nepal has become the first country in South Asia to
export electricity to a third country. "This electricity export agreement
is also a model of reducing emissions, expanding relations between citizens of
different countries," he said.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 4 October 2024.
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