KATHMANDU: Nepal has commenced the export of approximately 400 megawatts of electricity to India on a daily basis, marking a significant development in energy trade between the two countries. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) initiated this export of surplus electricity last Monday night, leveraging the increased production resulting from the onset of the monsoon season and rising temperatures, which have spurred heightened snowmelt in the Himalayas, as per NEA reports.
Kul Man Ghising, the Managing Director of the NEA, stated that Nepal is currently exporting around 400 megawatts of surplus electricity to India daily. He further outlined the authority's ambition to scale up this export to a range between 1,000 to 1,200 megawatts of surplus electricity to cater to the competitive market's demand by the end of the year.
To facilitate this export, the NEA has authorized the export of 656 megawatts of electricity generated from 15 hydropower plants across Nepal to the competitive market. This marks a strategic shift in the country's energy landscape, particularly considering that during the winter season, the NEA previously imported electricity worth Rs 15.21 billion to meet domestic demand.
