 "Representative image. PTI")
Nepal will soon send 40 MW of electricity to Bangladesh via India after the three countries sign a tripartite power trading deal on July 28 (Sunday).
The deal is historic as this will be the first time in history that Nepal will sell electricity to a third country other than India.
Ground has been cleared for the three countries to sign the agreement on exporting electricity to Bangladesh, said Chandan Kumar Ghosh, spokesperson at Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) – the government-owned electricity body.
The power sale agreement will be signed in New Delhi by officials from NEA, the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and the NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN) of India.
Nepal’s Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Dipak Khadka, India’s Power Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar and Bangladesh’s Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister, Nasrul Hamid will also be present to witness the event.
In January, Nepal signed a long-term agreement for the export of 10,000 MW of power to India, and jointly inaugurated three cross-border transmission lines during the two-day visit of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to the Himalayan nation.
Here’s all you need to know about the deal:
According to the agreement, the NEA will supply 40 MW of hydroelectric power to Bangladesh through India from June 15 to November 15 each year
Under the tripartite deal, Nepal will receive a tariff $0.064 per unit for selling electricity to Bangladesh
First, Nepal will transmit the power to India via the 400KV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur cross-border transmission line following which India will transfer the equivalent amount of power to Bangladesh
The delivery point will be a 400kV substation at Muzaffarpur in India, and Bangladesh will pay the transmission charge for using the Indian transmission infrastructure
According to an estimate by the NEA, Nepal will receive around Rs 330 million through the sale of electricity
With inputs from PTI