Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has started exporting 364 MW of electricity as per received approval to India from Friday.
The NEA had started selling the surplus electricity in the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) market at a competitive rate from June 2, 2022.
The Central Electricity Authority under the Ministry of Power of India had given approval to the NEA to sell 364 MW of electricity in the IEX market as a source of electricity generated from six hydropower projects.
During the visit of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to India last April, Joint Vision Statement on Power Sector Cooperation between Nepal and India was issued.
After that, the NEA had received approval to export electricity generated from additional hydropower plants to India.
The sale of electricity generated from private sector Green Ventures’s Likhu-4 has started in the Indian market since Friday.
37.7 MW from NEA-owned Trishuli and Devighat, 140 MW from Kaligandaki A, 68 MW from middle Marsyangdi, 67 MW from Marsyangdi and 51 MW generated from private sector’s Likhu-4 are being exported to the Indian market daily, said the NEA.
The surplus power is being exported to the Indian market on a daily basis through the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur 400 kV cross-border transmission line after the power plants started running at full capacity due to increased flow of water in the rivers.
Managing Director of NEA Kul Man Ghising said that the sale of electricity in the Indian market from all the projects approved for export was a milestone for electricity trade between the two countries.
With the beginning of export of electricity, the Joint Vision on Energy Cooperation jointly issued by the prime ministers of the two countries has entered a new phase of implementation.
“We are exporting all the surplus electricity after domestic consumption. The situation of wasting electricity generated in the country has come to an end for the time being.
We are in continuous discussions with the Indian side for approval for further export of electricity in the coming days,” he said.
He thanked all the concerned persons and bodies for their initiative and support in bringing the electricity trade between the two countries to this stage.
In Indian Energy Exchange, 24 hours are divided into 96 blocks of 15 minutes each and electricity is traded at competitive rates fixed by the market. Therefore, the price of each block is different.
The NEA has received the maximum and minimum prices of electricity for Friday at Rs. 19.2 (IRs 12) and Rs. 3.9984 (IRs 2.499) per unit respectively. The average price is Rs. 11.42 per unit (IRs 7.14), said the NEA. Electricity is sold in the daily electricity market (Day-Ahead Market) under the central electricity system of India.
The NEA is competing in the bid with the quantity of electricity sold in the exchange market every day from 10 am to 12 noon. The sales rate per unit of electricity is determined on the basis of market clearing price.
After the competitive rate is fixed, electricity is exported 24 hours a day from 12 o’clock at night till 12 o’clock the next night.
NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) is the nodal agency for electricity trade with Nepal. The NVVN sends daily transaction details to NEA at 6 pm every day.
Source : TRN,
