Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is importing an additional 25MW electricity from India from Wednesday.

NEA had last week written a letter to India’s NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN)—with which it had signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) in December 2016—requesting the latter to supply 145MW electricity through Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line from February 1.

Although the NEA-NVVN agreement allows Nepal to receive up to 160MW electricity through the cross-border transmission line, NEA has demanded only 145MW as the pact provisions 12 percent increase or decrease in the quantum of power supplied at a time.

“We decided to demand 145 MW from that transmission line as we have cushion for increasing or decreasing the import by 12 percent,” said NEA Deputy Managing Director Rajeev Sharma. “This way, we can demand additional quantum of around 15MW during the peak time while we can reduce the import by around equivalent quantum during day time.”

Currently, Nepal imports 120MW electricity through the transmission line, and increasing the import to 145MW means supply of an additional 25MW to the national grid. Installation of a 100MVA transformer in India’s Muzaffarpur made the additional power import possible. The price for the new import, according to the NEA, has been set IRs3.60 per unit, which is equivalent to the existing rate. NEA will continue to import this quantum of electricity till May.

The additional import, according to NEA, will come in handy in managing electricity demand at a time when domestic power generation has came down significantly due low water levels in the rivers. “In a small system like ours, even 25MW power is very significant,” said Sharma.

NEA’s capacity to import energy from India will increase substantially following the completion of the under-construction Dhalkebar substation. The 320MVA substation, which is expected to be completed by February, will be able to handle up to 280MW, enabling NEA to import an additional 120MW power.

The Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line, which was completed in February, is currently being operated at 132KVA capacity. After the completion of the substation, the power line can be operated at 220KVA.

During a meeting of the Joint Steering Committee in New Delhi in June, India had expressed its readiness to supply additional electricity to Nepal through Dhalkebar, and had stressed the substation be completed at the earliest.

NEA currently imports around 350MW electricity from India through four transmission lines. Of the total imports, 120MW is received through Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur, 120MW through Kataiya-Kushhawa, 30MW through Tanakpur-Mahendranagar and 25MW through Ramnagar-Gandak transmission lines.