December 20: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has exported 1,357,757,000 units of electricity to India. The state-owned power utility made an income of Rs 11.16 billion from the export of power between June 2 to December 18.    
NEA had sold surplus electricity to India during the rainy season after fulfilling the demand for electricity in the domestic market. It had started selling power in the 'day-ahead market' of the Indian Energy Exchange Limited (IEX) through competitive bidding process.    
Indian currency worth INR 6,976,900,000 entered Nepal through power sale as the electricity trade with India is done in the Indian currency. This has also contributed to increasing the country's foreign currency reserves.    
The electricity sale was started in the IEX on a daily basis, considering the 39 megawatts power generated from two hydroelectricity centres in the beginning. The power generated from six hydroelectricity projects was taken as the source and 364 megawatts power was sold in the Indian market since June 10.    
NEA had obtained permission to export power from additional two hydroelectricity projects since November 4 and 16. With this, the approved capacity for export to India reached 408 megawatts, considering the electricity generated from eight hydroelectricity powerhouses as the source.    
NEA had made an income of Rs 2,838,800,000 through the export of 299,100,000 units of electricity between May 15 to July 16. It earned Rs 8,324,240,000 through the export of 1,586,034,000 units of power as of December 18 in the current fiscal year.    
NEA executive director Kulman Ghising informed that power export has been stopped now with the decrease in power production from run-of-the-river type projects with the decline in volume of water in the rivers and increasing demand for power across the country, including in Kathmandu with the onset of winter. -- RSS