Nepal Exports Electricity to Bangladesh for First Time

Kathmandu, Nov 15 (PTI) Nepal on Friday, for the first time, exported 40 megawatts of electricity to Bangladesh through an Indian transmission line, as per a tripartite agreement.

The electricity was transmitted to Bangladesh via the Indian transmission line at around 1 pm local time, said Chandan Ghosh, spokesperson of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).

However, it was only for a single day on Friday that Nepal exported 40 MW of electricity to Bangladesh and as per the agreement, will continuously export from June 15, 2025 onwards.

Nepal, India and Bangladesh inked the agreement in Kathmandu on October 3 this year to export 40 MW electricity from Nepal to Bangladesh between June 15 to November 15 during the rainy season for the next five years via Indian transmission lines.

The agreement involved the NEA, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited of India and the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).

However, the actual power export was delayed, mainly due to political unrest in Bangladesh.

Calling it as a “historic occasion,” Ghosh said, it has paved the way for Nepal to sell electricity to a third country.

“It has crushed diplomatic, economic and technical barriers in the trade of electricity with a third country, which is not our immediate neighbour,” he maintained.

Friday's export to Bangladesh came from Nepal's 25-megawatt Trishuli and 22-megawatt Chilime hydropower plants and used India's 400-kV Muzaffarpur-Beharampur-Bhedamara transmission line.