Now Reading: Nepal may need Indian power after floods hit hydel plants
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Nepal may need Indian power after floods hit hydel plants
Nepal may ask India to export electricity during the summer season, reversing the usual power flow between the two neighbours, after flash floods on Wednesday damaged multiple hydropower projects. Hydropower accounts for…
Nepal may ask India to export electricity during the summer season, reversing the usual power flow between the two neighbours, after flash floods on Wednesday damaged multiple hydropower projects. Hydropower accounts for over 90% of Nepal's roughly 4,300 MW generation capacity. The floods hit 13 hydroelectric plants and a solar plant, affecting nearly 360 MW of capacity, including the 14 MW Devighat plant that supplies power to India.
India typically imports hydropower from Nepal in summer and exports power in the dry winter. A senior official said India could consider a request from Nepal, as domestic demand is 245-250 GW, well below India's peak capacity of 280 GW. The two countries currently have a 1,000 MW cross-border transmission capacity through the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur line, and recently agreed to raise it to over 1,400 MW.
Indian Opinion Analysis
This would invert the usual bilateral power trade, where India is a net buyer of Nepal's summer surplus. Nepal's dependence on hydropower means a single weather event can cripple supply, in 2021, floods and landslides damaged at least 10 projects. The 360 MW knocked out is roughly 8% of national capacity, enough to cause load-shedding if winter demand rises. India's surplus capacity gives it room to help, but the 1,400 MW upgrade to the cross-border link, agreed under the 2014 power trade agreement, will be critical to sustaining such flows. The Nepal government must now assess damage and formally approach India. The next signal to watch is whether Nepal's energy ministry files an official purchase request to the Indian side.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
