Building a pair of Nepal-China cross-border transmission lines will again be on the agenda of a bilateral Joint Working Group meeting scheduled for later this month, two officials of the Nepal Electricity Authority said.

The meeting of the Joint Working Group comprising representatives of the NEA and the State Grid Corporation of China is scheduled to be held in the northern neighbour in the last week of March.

When Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal visited China in September last year, the two sides had signed an agreement on building the Nepal section of the proposed 220kV Jilong/Kerung-Rasuwagadhi-Chilime cross-border transmission line with Chinese grant.

“The two sides will launch the construction of the Jilong/Kerung-Rasuwagadhi-Chilime 220kV cross-border power transmission line at an early date,” said the joint statement issued during the visit.

The two sides agreed to build the first transmission line connecting the two neighbours. Without grid connectivity with the other neighbour, Nepal fully relies on India to import electricity in the dry season and export its excess power in the wet season.

In the meantime, around a dozen cross-border transmission lines including one of 400kV capacity with India are in operation while four 400kV cross-border grids extending southward are in the pipeline.

The Nepal section is 16 km from the China border to the Chilime hub, while the Chinese will have to build around 80km from the border on their side as well, according to the NEA officials.

“During the meeting, we will also request them to build the project on the Nepal side as agreed earlier,” said Dirghayu Kumar Shrestha, chief of the transmission directorate at the NEA. “We expect them to build the power line on their sides at the earliest as well.”

Even though the Chinese side agreed to fund the Nepal section of the project, there has not been a further study on the proposed Ratamate-Rasuwagadhi-Kerung Cross-Border Transmission Line since its capacity was brought down to 220kV from 400kV.

“As the alignment will be the same on the Nepal side, a little update on the existing detailed feasibility study of the Ratamate-Rasuwagadhi-Kerung line will be enough to build the Nepal section,” said Shrestha. “We plan to request the Chinese side to conclude the detailed feasibility study on their side within six months.”

While designing the project under 400kV capacity, the cross-border transmission line was supposed to carry 5,000MW power, according to the NEA.

“There will be a discussion on how to synchronise the two power systems to enable cross-border transmission of power,” said Komal Nath Atreya, chief of the Ratmate-Rasuwagadhi-Kerung Transmission Line Project, who has also been entrusted with coordinating with the Chinese side for building the proposed 220kV cross-border line.

Nepal also plans to propose another cross-border power line connecting the bordering village of Kimathanka in Sankhuwasabha district to the Chinese side. “We will convey to them that it is also our priority agenda,” said Shrestha.

Kimathanka is located in Bhotkhola Rural Municipality of Sankhuwasabha in Koshi Province. “As several power projects are under construction on the Arun corridor, new cross-border transmission lines in eastern Nepal would help with the export of power from the projects in the region to China,” said Atreya.

According to NEA officials, the two sides will also discuss powering up some of Nepal’s bordering villages with the Chinese grid.

As per the joint statement issued after the prime minister’s visit, the Chinese side agreed to positively consider Nepal’s request for supplying grid power to electrify northern remote villages of Nepal from the Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region of China, and take overall consideration of providing equipment or technology on commercial terms.

Nepal had sought the neighbour’s help to light up several bordering villages in around half a dozen districts.

Kimathanka in Sankhuwasabha, Lapchi in Dolakha, Chumnubri in Gorkha, and Hilsa in Humla were some villages proposed for electrification with Chinese assistance, according to the NEA officials.

According to the power utility, over 5,000 households in several bordering villages are without electricity. Nepal had proposed using Chinese electricity as connecting the mountain villages to the domestic grid will be expensive because of the difficult terrain.

“The Chinese side has expressed its readiness to provide electricity to two bordering villages as a pilot initiative,” said Atrerya.