Nepal-India Power meet Today .

NEW DELHI: The tenth Nepal-India Power Exchange Committee meeting is starting here tomorrow.

On the agenda are the proposed import of 100 MW power from India and additional 145 MW power import in the next one year, said Rameshwar Yadav, Managing Director, Nepal Electricity Authority, who is leading an 11-member Nepali team. The ongoing 440 KV Dhalkebar–Muzzafarpur transmission line project will also figure. The Nepali side will request help in building additional powerful cross-border transmission lines from Hetauda –Baliya or Butwal-Gorakhpur or from any point in India that can sustain powerful cross-border transmission lines for long term power exchange.

The Indian side is likely to accept Nepal’s proposal for import of 150 MW from India for the next 25 years at Rs 3.50 to 4.50 with escalation of transportation rate. “This rate will be cheaper for us than the power we get from storage project.

The Indian side is likely to ask Nepal to make timely payment. Yadav said the Indian side might also raise the issue of increment in power tariff. “Our effort will be to get power at minimum rate, but we understand Indian government agencies only play facilitators’ role. The Indian government makes power available to us from independent power traders,” he said.

This meeting is expected to figure out from which point to which point India can export power to Nepal, the amount of power from a certain point and who will bear how much cost to upgrade infrastructure, said Chiranjivi Sharma, NEA’s Officiating GM for Transmission System and Operation.

Currently Nepal imports up to 134 MW from India. There are almost two dozen points from where Nepal can import power.

Sharma said Nepal’s effort would be to import power through major points like Biratnagar, Birgunj, Jaynagar, Nepalgunj, Gandak and Kataiya so that maximum possible amount of power can be imported. Nepal’s power demand has risen by 200 MW this year alone.

A meeting of Joint Committee on Water Resources (JCWR) held in November in New Delhi had decided to hold the PEC meeting to discuss technical aspects of infrastructure upgradation.

At this stage, Nepal cannot import additional power from India without upgrading existing infrastructure. A joint technical meeting in Kathmandu a few weeks ago, had estimated that Nepal could import 100 MW from India by upgrading infrastructure at the cost of five crore rupees and another 145 MW in one year if additional 29 crores rupees was spent to further upgrade infrastructure.

Source : thehimalayantimes.com