KATHMANDU: Nepal said Monday it has begun regular commercial electricity exports to Bangladesh, marking its entry into the international power market beyond neighbouring India.
The landlocked Himalayan nation started transmitting 40 megawatts (MW) of electricity to Bangladesh via India on Sunday under a five-year agreement.
“Nepal will continue supplying electricity to Bangladesh during the monsoon season from mid-June to mid-November,” Rajan Dhakal, spokesperson at Nepal Electricity Authority, told AFP.
In October, the country signed a tripartite power export deal with the Bangladesh Power Development Board and India’s NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam, which is facilitating access to the transmission line. The following month, the line was opened for only one day.
“This is just the beginning of Nepal’s journey as an energy exporter,” Nepal’s energy minister Dipak Khadka said.
“This highlights our energy surplus and commitment to regional energy security,” he posted on X Sunday.
Four in five Nepalis did not have access to electricity at the turn of the century, according to the International Energy Agency, but a dam-building spree has since helped connect nearly all its 30 million people to the grid.
The country now boasts an installed electricity capacity of more than 3,500 MW, with more power than it can currently consume during the rainy season.
Nepal first began exporting electricity to India on a smaller scale in late 2021.
Exporting power to Bangladesh comes as the country struggles with energy insecurity. With an electricity grid heavily reliant on fossil fuels, it has faced severe power outages over the past year.
Some studies estimate that water-rich Nepal could have a total potential capacity of 72,000 MW, which is about 20 times the size of the current installed capacity.
However, conservationists have criticised Nepal’s rush to develop its hydro potential, saying that environmental compliance safeguards are sometimes ignored.
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