Nepal, Bangladesh & India Sign Power Export Agreement

Kathmandu, Oct 2 (PTI) Nepal, Bangladesh and India will ink a long-awaited tripartite agreement on Thursday to export electricity to Bangladesh, an official said on Wednesday.

The agreement will involve the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited of India and the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), according to Chandan Kukmar Ghosh, spokesperson at the Nepal Electricity Authority.

Under the terms of the agreement, the NEA will get 6.40 US cents per unit of electricity. The Indian side is involved in the deal as Nepal and Bangladesh would use India's transmission line to distribute electricity through its territory.

Earlier, the agreement was scheduled for July 28, which was postponed due to political turmoil and a change of government in Bangladesh.

According to sources at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, meetings at the energy secretary and joint-secretary levels were held in Kathmandu on Tuesday and Wednesday to prepare for the agreement.

The NEA plans to sell electricity to Bangladesh annually during the rainy season, from June 15 to November 15. In the beginning, Nepal will export 40 MW of electricity generated in the country to Bangladesh through India. The expected export is 144,000 megawatt-hours, and the NEA estimates earnings of USD 9.216 million over these five months, according to the media reports.

Electricity will be exported to Bangladesh via the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur 400 kV transmission line, with the metering point in Muzaffarpur.

On December 6, 2023, Bangladesh's Cabinet Economic Affairs Committee approved to import 40 megawatts of electricity from Nepal.