Bangladesh, Nepal to use Indian grid for power trade
Energy officials of Nepal and Bangladesh in a secretary level meeting have agreed to use the existing setup of Indian transmission lines to trade power in the short run.
The decision came during talks between the two countries. The dedicated transmission line would pass through the Siliguri corridor in India.
An agreement was signed to this end by Nepal’s Energy Secretary Dinesh Ghimire and his Bangladeshi counterpart Ahmad Kaikaus during the Joint Steering Committee meeting in Cox’s Bazar on Friday.
In line with a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two countries on “Cooperation in the Field of Power Sector” last August, the authorities have also decided to study the prospect of building dedicated power lines in the long term.
Discussions on the use of Indian transmission lines passing through the Siliguri Corridor, also known as “Chicken’s Neck”, emerged in the wake of recent amendments to the cross-border energy trading regulations by India.
“The Transmission Planning Agency of India in consultation with the Transmission Planning Agency of the neighbouring country shall grant access to the Participating Entities to use Cross Border Transmission Link for cross border trade of electricity,” states India’s Cross Border Trade of Electricity Regulations 2019.
In earlier meetings, Nepal and Bangladesh pledged to make their best efforts in devising such trilateral arrangements.
The concerned authorities from both countries have also planned to study and invest in 20 major hydropower projects proposed in the white paper released by the energy ministry in May 2018.
The proposed projects include four storage and other major hydroelectric power plants like Upper Arun, Dudhkoshi, Sunkoshi 2, Sunkoshi 3, West Seti and Phukot Karnali.
“However, as majority of those projects are either under proposal or under study, the figures might vary in the final detail design,” said the official.
Out of the 20 projects, the Nepal Electricity Authority is currently evaluating the detailed project report of the 800 MW Dudhkoshi Hydropower project and the recent project optimisation of Upper Arun, which revised its installed capacity from 725 MW to 1040 MW.
To satisfy its power demand, Bangladesh has floated plans to import around 9,000 MW from Nepal over the course of a decade.
And Nepal’s power generation is poised to surge in the next fiscal year as 43 projects with installed capacity of 1,149 MW are expected to roar into life.
Given that, the energy ministry has accorded importance to conclude construction of high capacity substations at cross-border trade points and finalise the modalities for developing the 400 kV Butwal-Gorakhpur Transmission Line to facilitate cross border power trade.
The Transmission System Development Plan, unveiled by the ministry in July 2018, has also highlighted the need to have a robust distribution system to evacuate power to energy starved regions and facilitate electricity export to India and China.