BD to import 500 MW hydro electricity from Nepal

The government is going to import hydro electricity from Nepal at a rate of US$ 6.6 cents per unit which is equivalent to Tk 5.75. Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and Indian company, GMR, have fixed the price following several rounds of negotiations last week in the capital.
"We are working on the issue to import 500 MW of power from Nepal through the Indian company GMR group, however, we are importing electricity on a 'no electricity no payment' basis," a senior official of BPDB told the Daily Observer on Thursday.
As there is no question of capacity charge so it would be a lucrative one for us, we could stop our liquid fuel fired power plant in the evening peak hours, he said.
Bangladesh plans to invest one billion dollars in Nepal and Bhutan to tap the hydro potential of these two countries. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina endorsed the Power Division's proposal in this regard. Earlier, Bangladesh-India-Nepal have successfully completed signing of a non-binding MoU with GMR Group and Bangladesh and Nepal energy sector cooperation deal one year back.
"We have identified 20 points across Nepal. A joint working      committee is working there and has completed the survey work. Nepal government will present its survey findings in November when the two countries meet in Nepal," BPDB official said.
Power Division observed that Nepal has a potential to produce 30,000 MW of electricity, Indian companies are working there to do energy business in their own way, Bangladesh wants to invest there and love to install some hydro power projects jointly.
"We both have agreed to sign a PPA (power purchase agreement) than the GMR will start the installation work of the project at Upper Karnali, which will take around 6 years, we will then start power import from Nepal through GMR," BPDB official said.
Yes, we will pay the transmission charge to the Indian government, we are working to establish some grid inter-connection between Bangladesh and India to import power through the super grid line, the official said.
Bangladesh, Nepal and GMR Group of India, have been working to materialize a 500 MW of electricity export to Bangladesh from Nepal's Upper Karnali Hydropower Project for the last seven years.
Currently, India is supplying 1000-MW of electricity at a rate of Tk 5.54 a unit (minimum Tk 4.85 and maximum Tk 7.70).
The government has plans to import 9,000 MW of electricity from Nepal over the next 10 years.
For bringing the power from Nepal, Bangladesh needs to use some corridors in India. Following a huge diplomatic effort in March 2018, India relaxed its energy trading provisions by allowing public and private entities in Nepal to develop, operate and maintain a dedicated transmission system from Nepal to the pooling station in India for power trade with India or Bangladesh.
Earlier, India had allowed only state-owned hydropower projects or companies with a minimum 51 per cent Indian stake to trade power with India or other countries using its transmission lines.