India, Nepal Sign Long-term Power Trade Deal
4 January 2024
The Governments of India and Nepal signed a long-term power trade agreement on 4 January 2024. The agreement is a 25-year deal, and aims to export 10,000 megawatts of electricity to India in the next ten years. Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal noted that this was a milestone in energy trading for Nepal. He underscored the historic achievement, remarking its significance to Nepal’s energy trade with Bangladesh via the Indian grid.
The deal will be auto-renewed every 10 years after the first 25 years, paving the way for medium- and long-term power purchase agreements of up to 5-10 years, according to Mr. Sandeep Kumar Dev, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Nepal.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Mr. Pankaj Agarwal, Indian Energy Secretary and Mr. Gopal Sigdel, Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Government of Nepal.
The signing took place at the Seventh Meeting of the Nepal-India Joint Commission held in Kathmandu, Nepal. It was witnessed by Mr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs, India, and Mr. N.P. Saud, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Nepal, who co-chaired the meeting.
Mr. Jaishankar and Mr. Saud also remotely inaugurated the 132 kV cross-border transmission lines between Nepal and India (the second circuit of Raxaul- Parwanipur line, the second circuit of Kataiya- Kusaha line, and the New Nautanwa-Mainhiya lines) at the meeting.
Furthermore, three other agreements were exchanged on the occasion:
- Agreement between the Government of Nepal and the Government of India regarding Indian Grant Assistance for Implementation of High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs)
- Launch Service Agreement for Munal Satellite, and
- MoU for Cooperation in Renewable Energy Development.
Related links
EAM Jaishankar, his Nepal counterpart co-chair 7th India-Nepal Joint Commission meeting
Nepal and India review relations, sign 10,000MW power export deal
Nepal, India to strengthen power transmission systems
