India okays Nepal's request for 654 MW electricity advance import

New Delhi: The Centre has accepted Nepal's request for advance import approvals to offtake around 654 MW of peak electricity through power exchanges, but only in non-solar hours, people aware of the development said.

Kathmandu had sought advance import approvals effective September to mitigate generation deficits caused by the recent flash floods. This advance approval for power demand from Nepal comes at a time when India is witnessing unusual domestic needs due to sultry weather, irrigation demand through a rather dry monsoon season, and less wind and hydro electricity generation amid the El Nino effect.

Mail sent to the Ministry of Power remained unanswered until the publication of this report.

While solar hours are seeing sufficient generation to provide for the overall power demand in the country, non-solar hours have pressured coal-based and gas-based power plants. India's peak power demand has been hovering above 260 GW, which is unusually high for September. On September 10, the peak power demand met was 269 GW, while in the non-solar hours on the same day, peak demand was 236 GW, with a shortage of 6.1 GW.

The request to facilitate increased power flow to Nepal as needed has been processed in accordance with established frameworks, including trade through the day-ahead market and real-time market segments of the Indian power exchanges.

Kathmandu's request was to import electricity effective September - earlier than usual. Nepal traditionally imports electricity from India during the lean or winter months starting October. So far in September, there has not been any major import by Nepal through the exchanges, according to data from the Grid Controller of India Ltd.

India also imports power from Nepal. While the flash floods in the Trishuli and Lhende Khola river basin on August 26 caused severe infrastructural damage, including to power generation units in Nepal, the impact on India's national power grid is minimal and fully manageable.

Nepal's domestic generation capacity has fallen by around 550 MW due to the damaged facilities, an executive said. Cross-border power flow to India is currently reduced by around 400 MW from its previous peak export levels of around 950-1,000 MW.