Energy secretaries of Nepal, India meeting in Kathmandu next week

The first JSC and Joint Working Group (JWG) of joint secretaries were held in New Delhi in November 2014. The JWG meeting had formed two panels -- Joint Technical Committee (JTC) and Joint Operation Committee (JOC) -- to implement bilateral agreement between the two countries. The JWG meeting will precede the secretary level meeting during the two-day bilateral talks. Suman Prasad Sharma, secretary of Ministry of Energy, said that the meeting will be a follow-up of the first meeting. "The focus will be on technicalities of trading power as per the technical committee reports. In addition, we will also hold talks regarding import of at least 90 MW from India through the available system," Sharma, who will co-chair the meeting, told Republica. Work on construction of 140-kilometer 400 KVA transmission line between Dhalkebar of Nepal and Muzaffarpur of India is in the last leg and government officials say there is the possibility of connecting at least 90 MW in the existing infrastructure. Delay in construction of substations in the Nepali side has affected plan to import more electricity from the southern neighbor, according to officials. Nepal has already signed an agreement to import 150 MW through this new line. Officials say Nepal will be able to import up to 500 MW from India once this transmission line comes into operation. Pradeep Kumar Pujari, Secretary of India's Ministry of Power, will co-chair the meeting. The bilateral meeting is being seen as crucial for Nepal as the country is reeling under severe energy crisis due to scarcity of fuel because of the Indian blockade since September. The meeting is expected to build a ground for energy cooperation despite supply disruption by Nepal's sole petroleum supplier. "We expect to increase electricity imports from India," added Sharma. Nepal is currently importing more than 220 MW from India. Existing grid connectivity between the two countries, however, is yet to be fully synchronized for two-way trading. A representative of Joint Technical Committee told Republica that they have proposed construction of six new substations in Duhabi, Dhalkebar, Butwal, Kohalpur, Lamki and Attaria to connect with different transmission networks of India. The committee has held two bilateral meetings so far. It has prepared a blueprint of transmission line connectivity considering three phases of electricity generation in Nepal by 2021, 2025 and 2035. Besides this, a transmission line master plan also has been developed which will be discussed in the meetings, officials say. Members of the Joint Operation Committee (JOC), the committee assigned to do necessary homework for operation and regulation of power supply, met in New Delhi on Thursday to give final shape to its report which will be discussed in JWG and JSC meeting. Nepal and India signed PTA in October 2014, two months after Nepal visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Though the agreement paves the way for energy exchange between the two countries, little progress has been made in this front so far. According to PTA, secretary level meeting was to be held once a year and JWG meeting every six months. But no such meeting has been organized since November 2014. Energy ministry officials say the JWG meeting was planned in April or May last year. But the plan was affected by the April earthquake and Indian blockade. Nepal had been pushing for energy trade agreement with India for long. It had repeatedly put the agendas in the Nepal-India Joint Committee on Water Resources -- a permanent bilateral body that discusses water resources issues. But India was reluctant to sign the agreement until the Modi government came in power in early 2014. Nepal wants to exchange energy with India to balance its higher demand for dry months and possible energy surplus in wet months. The country has installed capacity of around 800 MW. But power generation falls to half during dry months when peak demand soars to above 1500 MW.