October 3, 2024, 11:55 pm 
Nepal, India and Bangladesh today signed a long-awaited tripartite power agreement that will help Nepal export energy to Bangladesh via India.
Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), and NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) signed the tripartite agreement, which will initially help export a 40-megawatt power to Bangladesh via India, and is expected to pave the way for Nepal’s energy export to third country in the long run.
The agreement that will be in effect for five years has been signed by NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising, BPDB President Md Rezul Karim, and NVVN CEO Renu Narang, on behalf of their respective institutions in Kathmandu today.
Minister for Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation Deepak Khadka; Minister for Forest, Environment, Climate Change, and Water Resources of Bangladesh Saiyada Rizwana Hassan; and Indian envoy to Nepal Navin Srivastava were present on the agreement ceremony.
Though the agreement was set to be signed twice earlier, it was postponed due to the political unrest in Bangladesh.
But after today’s agreement, Bangladesh will start importing 40-MW of energy from Nepal via India. However, NEA plans to export 5,000 MW to Bangladesh in the long run.
After the signing ceremony, NEA MD Ghising said that the agreement is a milestone in energy cooperation in South Asia. “This is the result of our common vision and will open doors for regional and sub-regional cooperation in the coming days,” he added.
According to the Ministry of Energy two power export agreements have been signed today. Nepal and Bangladesh signed one agreement, while another was signed between Nepal, India, and Bangladesh, paving the way for Nepal to transmit electricity to Bangladesh via India’s transmission lines.
NEA will supply 40 MW hydropower to Bangladesh via Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur cross-border transmission line. NVVN will supply energy to India via the Bahrampur-Bheramara transmission line. Energy will be exported to Bangladesh for six months – from June 15 to November 15, according to a press note issued by the NEA.
Under the agreement, NEA will bear technical losses up to Muzaffarnagar, while Bangladesh will bear other losses incurred thereafter. Bangladesh has already agreed to pay Nepal 6.4 cents, approximately Rs 8.64 per unit. If things go as agreed, Bangladesh will purchase electricity worth Rs 7.39 billion in the span of five years from Nepal.
The wheeling charge for using NVVN’s transmission infrastructure will be paid by Bangladesh’s BPDB.
Nepal and Bangladesh have already agreed to jointly construct Sunkoshi 3 Hydropower Project (536 MW) for energy export to Bangladesh.
Following the tripartite agreement, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Deepak Khadka said the tripartite power agreement between Nepal, India and Bangladesh has been a milestone in the energy sector of Nepal. He said that Nepal aims to generate 28,500 MW of electricity by 2035, with plans to export 15,000 MW of it.
