India to offer Nepal another 40 MWs

India to offer Nepal another 40 MWs
eKantipur.com, 8-Jun-2007
BY BIKASH SANGRAULA

India's Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has agreed to upgrade the Duhabi-Kataiya cross border transmission link by October this year to allow Nepal to import an additional 40 megawatts of electricity from the southern neighbor on a commercial basis.

During the last dry season, Nepal imported up to 80 megawatts from India, including 50 megawatts from the Duhabi-Kataiya link.

"With the import of 40 additional megawatts, Nepal will not face worse load-shedding in the coming dry season than it did in the last dry season," said Arjun Kumar Karki, managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), who led the Nepalese team in the eighth Indo-Nepal Power Exchange Committee meeting that concluded in Kathmandu on Friday.

Similarly, the two countries have agreed on a power exchange tariff of Rs 5.7 (IRs 3.59). The average tariff NEA charges to customers is Rs 6.7.

The tariff will be applicable to both the power exported to India and imported from India. Also, the annual increment of tariff has been reduced from the existing 8.5 percent flat, to 5 percent till June 2008, and 5.5 percent thereafter till June 2009, after which it will again be revised.

Nepal will now be paying its outstanding dues to electricity boards in several neighboring Indian states based on the new tariff rate. According to a member in the Indian delegation, the revision of the annual increment in tariff means that Nepal's outstanding dues to India for imported electricity has gone down from IRs 100 crores to IRs 85 crores.

NEA's Karki added that it was also agreed in the meeting to allow NEA to sell to India, on a commercial basis, the free energy Nepal gets from the 120 megawatt Tanakpur hydroelectric project.

Nepal gets 70 million units of free power from Tanakpur. However, as much as one-third of the electricity was being wasted as there is little load in Nepalese territory near the Tanakpur project.

"Now, NEA can sell the unused energy in the Indian market on a commercial basis," said Karki.

Additionally, it has been agreed that Nepal can export some 40 megawatt of excess power to India during wet season on a commercial basis through the Gandak-Ramnagar transmission link.

The two countries have also agreed to dismantle five of the 21 existing cross border transmission links, which are currently in disuse.

Constituted in 1991, the Indo-Nepal Power Exchange Committee was supposed to meet once every year. However, it was not held for four long years after the seventh meeting in 2003.

The Indian delegation for the eighth meeting was led by V Ramakrishnan, member of CEA, India.