India has agreed to export 554 MW of electricity to Nepal. According to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the electricity import agreement between Nepal and India has been renewed for three months. “There has been an agreement to import 554 MW of electricity from the Indian market for three months from March 30,” said Chandan Kumar Ghosh, the head of the NEA’s load dispatch center. According to him, an agreement has been reached to import electricity to be purchased from India through the Indian Energy Exchange. Electricity will be imported through the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur and Tanakpur transmission lines.

“The contract for importing 500 MW through the Dhalkebar transmission line and 54 MW from Tanakpur has been renewed,” said Ghosh. With the onset of winter across the country, there was a decline in the production of electricity in hydropower projects. According to the NEA, although a total of 3,000 MW of electricity has been connected to the national grid, barely 1,200 MW of electricity is currently being produced. Most of the hydropower projects across the country are run-of-the-river in nature. Due to this, the electricity production increases during the rainy season, and the electricity production decreases with the onset of winter, the NEA said.