Nepal has officially started supplying electricity to Bangladesh. Through this, the Himalayan country has exported electricity to a third country after India for the first time. In total, the country will send 40 megawatts of electricity to Bangladesh.
On Friday (November 15), Nepal started sending electricity to Bangladesh via India as per the tripartite agreement. Earlier, the program was started in the presence of the relevant ministers of the three countries in a virtual ceremony.
In a virtual ceremony organized by the Nepal government, Bangladesh's Energy Adviser Md. Fauzul Kabir Khan, Indian Minister for Power and Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal and Nepal's Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Deepak Khadka jointly inaugurated the power supply.
An official statement from New Delhi said that this 'historic' moment is the first tripartite supply of electricity, which is being sent through the Indian grid. They hope that this will increase regional cooperation in the power sector.
Nepal Electricity Authority spokesperson Chandan Kumar Ghosh told Chinese media outlet Xinhua that according to the tripartite agreement, Nepal will be able to sell electricity to Bangladesh for only one day in 2024. After that, electricity supply will resume from June 15, 2025.
Since there is no direct electrical connection between Bangladesh and Nepal, this electricity is coming through India's transmission line. However, since there is not much additional capacity in the connection between the Indian grid and the Bangladesh grid, Nepal will be able to send only 40 megawatts of electricity. But if the capacity of the transmission line is increased in the future, Nepal will be able to send more electricity, said spokesperson Chandan Kumar Ghosh.
In May-June this year, Nepal's then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda announced a tripartite agreement on hydropower supply to Bangladesh during his visit to India. The agreement was later signed on October 3.
The country will send electricity to Bangladesh from its two plants. Of this, 25 megawatts of electricity will come from Trishuli and 22 megawatts from the Chilmi Hydropower Project.
According to the agreement, Nepal will export surplus electricity to Bangladesh through India's internal transmission lines from June 15 to November 15 every year. The unit price of electricity is fixed at 6.4 cents (100 cents to 1 dollar). In Bangladeshi currency, this is about Tk. 7.50. Nepal has been supplying electricity to India since November 2021. They can export this because they generate excess hydroelectric power, especially during the monsoon season.