Nepal Electricity Exports Hit Rs 5.92 Billion in Ashoj

Nepal earned Rs 5.925 billion from electricity exports to India in Ashoj, the month from mid-September to mid-October, the Nepal Electricity Authority said. The country exported 633.98 million units of electricity to India in that month, up Rs 962 million from the same month last year, even though the August 26 floods damaged hydropower plants and interrupted production.

The numbers for the month

The NEA Load Dispatch Centre figures, reported by the Himalaya Post, Business News Nepal and IANS, show export revenue of Rs 5.925 billion in Ashoj, against Rs 4.963 billion in the same month last year and Rs 5.0925 billion in Bhadra, the previous month. That is a rise of Rs 832.5 million in one month. Across the first three months of the current fiscal year, Shrawan, Bhadra and Ashoj, total electricity export transactions reached Rs 16.1513 billion.

About two thirds of the electricity sent to India in Ashoj went under bilateral power purchase agreements, to the states of Haryana and Bihar. The rest was sold through India's Day-Ahead Market and Real-Time Market on the Indian Energy Exchange at competitive prices, the NEA said.

Bangladesh supply resumes at 40 megawatts

Nepal has also resumed exporting 40 megawatts of electricity to Bangladesh through India's transmission network, after the supply was suspended following flood damage. Flooding in the Trishuli River, triggered by heavy rain in the Bhotekoshi River area of Rasuwa, damaged the Trishuli and Chilime hydropower plants that had supplied the Bangladesh arrangement. IANS reported that under a revised arrangement, electricity from three other projects, Solu, Kabeli-1 and Lower Modi, has been approved for export to Bangladesh and Haryana, replacing supplies from the Trishuli, Devighat and Chilime plants.

NEA Executive Director Dirghayu Kumar Shrestha said export earnings rose in Ashoj although power supply had been disrupted for a time after the floods. IANS also reported that India's Central Electricity Authority has approved an additional 31 megawatts of exports from Nepal, taking total approved export capacity to about 1,179 megawatts.

The figures show why electricity has become one of Nepal's most closely watched exports. Sales rise in the wet season, when rivers run high and generation exceeds what the country uses at home, and the resumed Bangladesh supply keeps Nepal selling power to two countries at once instead of one.