Nepal Starts Exporting Electricity to India - NEA Official

Kathmandu, May 21 (PTI) The Nepal Electricity Authority has begun to export power to India at the real-time market price owing to an increase in production during the rainy season, an official said.

The NEA started exporting electricity to India between 150 MW and 200 MW daily from Saturday onwards, Rajbhai Shilpakar, the spokesperson at NEA, told PTI.

"We have started selling electricity to India for the last five days as the production from our hydroelectricity plants has increased due to the rising water levels in our rivers," Shilpakar said.

Most of the hydropower projects in Nepal are based on a run-of-river system.

The NEA has been exporting its surplus electricity to India since 2021, when the country got permission to export energy.

Nepal exports energy to India mainly from June to November, as the country's electricity generation exceeds the domestic consumption during the rainy season.


Nepal's current electricity generation almost equals its peak-time demand, allowing the country to sell the power when the demand is less than production.

Currently, Nepal's peak time demand stands at 1950 MW, while its production is 1920 MW.

Except during the peak period, we have a power surplus which we sell in the Indian market, Shilpakar said.

He said that Nepal imports electricity from India during the peak time.

Last year, Nepal made a net profit from selling electricity to India as the revenue generated from the export exceeded the cost of importing the energy.

The NEA made a net profit of NRs. 120 million (INR 75 million) from the export of electricity last year.