Chinese companies have shown little interest in participating in the Power Summit scheduled to be held on April 18-19 in Kathmandu, the event's organiser has said.

Independent Power Producers’ Association of Nepal (IPPAN) is organising the eighth edition of the power summit with an expected participation of some 800 delegates from the power sector, including 300 representatives from more than 30 countries.

“We have sent invitations through diplomatic missions to foreign companies, including those in China. We have also invited individual companies,” said Ganesh Karki, vice-president of IPPAN. “But no Chinese company nor their representatives have confirmed their participation."

He said they were unaware of the exact reason why there is less enthusiasm among the Chinese companies to participate in the event.

Office bearers of the IPPAN said the participation of the Chinese companies used to be high in the past. “Even if they join in the event, we are not expecting large-scale participation from the Chinese in the summit this year,” said Ashish Garg, another vice-president of the IPPAN.

The IPPN, however, expects good representation from the Indian companies given that the Indian embassy in Nepal is the country"s partner for the event.

Indian companies—Indian Energy Exchange and Manikaran Power Limited—are participating in the event as the exchange and trading partners, respectively.

Lately, the cooperation between Nepal and India in the power sector has been growing while the cooperation with China in the power sector has been minimal.

Growing number of Indian companies, particularly the state-owned ones, have shown interest in developing mega hydropower projects on Nepal’s rivers.

In May last year, SJVN Limited and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) had signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the 679 megawatt Arun-4 hydropower project, jointly. It is also developing a 900 MW Arun 3 project.

Another state-owned Indian company NHPC Limited in August last year, was awarded the 750 MW West Seti hydropower project and the 450 MW Seti River 6 project.

Earlier, China’s Three Gorges Corporation was awarded the West Seti Project for its development.

Nepal and India vowed to cooperate in developing the power projects jointly, constructing transmission lines, including cross-border infrastructure and bi-directional power trade as per the Nepal-India Joint Vision Statement on Power Sector issued in April last year.

Nepal has also been exporting power to India with the country earning as much as Rs11.16 billion in the last summer with electricity emerging as one of the top exports of the country, according to the NEA.

On the other hand, Hydroelectricity Investment and Development Company Ltd (HIDCL) is likely to ditch its cooperation with Power China Corporation to develop the 762-megawatt Tamor reservoir hydropower project, according to a senior official of Investment Board Nepal.

“With India deciding not to buy electricity from the projects developed with Chinese investment, the Chinese companies might be concerned over market guarantees,” said an office bearer of IPPAN.

Karki said that as China has just emerged from its strict zero-Covid policy, that may have also contributed to their lack of enthusiasm in participating at the power summit.

China has been leading other countries in pledging the largest amount of foreign direct investment in Nepal over the past several years, according to the Department of Industry.