Kathmandu: The country has earned an income of Rs. 10.38 billion from the export of electricity to Indian energy market.
According to the latest information, the mentioned income was obtained from the export of electricity in the first five and a half months of this year. Nepal Electricity Authority has exported 1.26 billion units of electricity to Indian market.
The Authority had started selling the excess monsoon electricity through competition in the day-ahead market of Indian Energy Exchange Limited (IEX).
As the electricity trade with India is done at Indian Rupees (INR), Nepal has received nearly INR 6.5 billion from the sale of electricity during this period. This is contributing to reducing Nepal’s foreign exchange reserves and the trade deficit between the two countries.
In the beginning, 39 megawatts of electricity produced by two power plants was considered as a source and was sold to IEX on a daily basis. After that, 364 megawatts of electricity produced by six hydropower plants were being sold daily in the Indian market at a competitive rate. With the start of electricity export from Chilime and Solukhola, the approved capacity of electricity to be exported to India has reached 409 megawatts.
Kulman Ghising, the Executive Director of the Authority, informed that the amount of export is gradually decreasing along with the reduction of electricity production from the hydroelectric power station based on the river flow due to the decrease in the flow of water in the rivers.
“Industries are currently not consuming electricity according to the approved load, due to which the demand for electricity in industrial corridors in the country is not increasing. At present, it is estimated that the excess electricity can be exported by the first week of next year,” he said.
In IEX, 24 hours are divided into 96 blocks of 15/15 minutes and electricity is traded at a competitive rate set by the market. Therefore, the price of each block is different. The average rate of electricity exported by the authority till October is INR 8.23 per unit.
Additional 23.5 MW export permit
The Authority has received permission for the export of electricity from the Solukhola hydropower station with an additional 23.5 MW installed capacity of the rainy season. The Central Electricity Authority under the Ministry of Electricity of the Government of India gave permission for the sale of electricity produced from Solukhola in the day-ahead market of Indian Energy Exchange Limited (IEX) through competition. The authority has now got permission for sale of 409 megawatts of electricity produced by eight hydropower plants in the day-ahead market.
