April 20: India's renowned industrial house Vedanta Limited has expressed its interest to buy up to 2,000 megawatts of electricity from Nepal. The company made this announcement at the closing session of the ongoing Power Summit 2023 in Kathmandu.

Vedanta's Chief Executive Officer Vibhav Agarwal said that they have submitted a letter of intent to purchase electricity of that amount through Nepal Power Exchange Company (NEPEX). Vedanta Limited stated that it wants to purchase electricity from Nepal in the long term as per the policy of zero carbon emission.

On the occasion, Minister for Finance Dr Prakash Saran Mahat called upon national and international investors to invest in Nepal's energy sector. He said that since the government has prioritized the energy sector, the problem of this sector will be solved and provision for incentives will be introduced, said Mahat.

Similarly, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Shakti Bahadur Basnet said that the government will incorporate the recommendations given in the conference into the law, adding, “The private sector will be facilitated in electricity trade as well as in production. The government and the private sector should move forward together.”

In the panel discussion held during the summit, Professor Mahendra P Lama of Jawaharlal Nehru University of India said that a new and original type of credit diplomacy should be developed at the regional level in order to get more benefits from the energy sector.

Director of the Bay of Bengal Study Center in Bangladesh, Tariq A Karim, pointed out that natural resources are not only linked to the nation but also to the sentiments of the common people and there is a need to expand the electricity market by developing them with an open mind.

Meanwhile, private sector energy producers have reached an agreement to trade 200 MW of electricity in India during the Power Summit 2023. According to the agreement, electricity produced by Chuwakhola Hydroelectric Project and Kasuakhola Hydroelectric Project will be sold in India. For this, Bizbel Energy Pvt. Ltd, the promoter of Chuwakhola Hydropower Project, and Kasuwakhola Hydropower Limited, the promoter of Kasuwakhola Hydropower Project, have signed an electricity trade agreement with India's Manikaran Power.