India renews Nepal power imports

KATHMANDU, Sept 16: India has renewed approval for Nepal to import up to 654 megawatts of electricity, but has yet to renew export permits for three hydropower projects whose approvals expired while Nepal was selling power to India.

The export permit for the 38.8MW Upper Chameliya Hydropower Project expired on June 30, while those for the 24.25MW Seti River and 10.7MW Upper Tadi Khola projects expired on July 31.

Nepal exports surplus electricity to India and Bangladesh during the monsoon but relies on imports from India in the dry winter months, when hydropower generation falls.

India’s Ministry of Power said on Monday that it had approved electricity imports by Nepal’s power utility, the Nepal Electricity Authority, for 18 hours a day, from midnight to 6pm, from September 13 through December 31.

But the recent Bhotekoshi floods have caused a power shortfall of 350MW to 400MW, and it remains uncertain when the damaged plants will be restored. India has also not renewed permits for the three projects that were already exporting electricity.

Nepal is currently exporting an average of about 600MW to India each day, according to the Nepal Electricity Authority.

The situation has been further complicated by floods in the Bhotekoshi River, which damaged the Trishuli and Chilime hydropower projects that had been approved to export electricity to India and Bangladesh. Exports to Bangladesh have been halted for nearly a month.

The authority has also sought India’s approval to sell electricity from the 9.94MW Kabeli B-1 and 82MW Solu Khola projects to Bangladesh. Both have approval to sell power in India’s Day-Ahead Market and Real-Time Market, but India has yet to approve their use for exports to Bangladesh, said Dhirghayu Kumar Shrestha, acting managing director of the authority.

“We have sent the name of another project for approval to export electricity to Bangladesh, but we have not received approval yet,” Shrestha said. “We have also asked India to renew the permits for projects whose export approvals have expired, but we have not received them yet.”

The 14.1MW Devighat Hydropower Project also had approval to export electricity to India but was damaged by the Bhotekoshi floods. The authority has sought permission to sell power from the Lower Modi project in the bilateral market as a replacement. Lower Modi already has approval to sell electricity through the Indian Energy Exchange, but India has yet to approve its sale in the bilateral market.�" ANN