India, Nepal, and Bangladesh inked an agreement on Thursday 3rd October to trade electricity.
The first of its kind deal was signed in Kathmandu, allowing Nepal to sell electricity to a third country. Nepal’s energy trade was previously taking place only with its southern neighbor, India.
The agreement was signed by officials of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), India’s National Thermal Power Corporation and Bangladesh Power Development Board.
The agreement was signed by Kulman Ghising, executive director of the Nepal Electricity Authority; Mohammad Rezaul Karim, chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board; and Renu Narang, CEO of India’s NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam amid a function in Kathmandu.
Energy Minister Deepak Khadka; Minister of State for Energy Purna Bahadur Tamang; and Bangladeshi Minister for Forest, Environment, Climate Change, and Water Resources Syeda Rizwana Hasan witnessed the signing.
As per the agreement, Bangladesh will now import 40 megawatts of electricity from Nepal. The Indian side has also been involved as Nepal’s electricity will be transmitted to Bangladesh through the transmission infrastructure on the Indian territory. Nepal and Bangladesh are not territorially linked.
Nepal is expected to sell 144,000 MWh (megawatt-hour) of electricity in five months—mid-June to mid-November—every year at the rate of 6.4 US cents a unit.