Question : Trade in Electricity

(a) whether the Government has trade relation in electricity with neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(b) the steps taken by the Government to improve power connectivity between neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh;

(c) whether Nepal and Bangladesh are using the Indian transmission grid to trade power between the two countries and if so, the details thereof;

(d) the benefits the Government expects to accrue from a robust power trading regime between India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan; and

(e) whether India has learned from the best practices in regional power systems integration like in European Union?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR POWER, NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY AND THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

( SHRI R.K. SINGH)

(a) : Yes, Sir. Presently, India exports electricity to Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar, while India imports power from Bhutan. However, sometimes India also exports power to Bhutan during lean hydro season. Import / Export of energy by India into/from these countries during the Financial Year 2019-20 (as on January, 2020) is as follows:-

Sl. No. Country Import (In Million Units) Export
(In Million Units)
1.
Nepal --- 1839.25
2. Bhutan, 6165.78 --
3. Bangladesh -- 6168.14
4. Myanmar -- 7.34

(b) : India has signed Memorandum of Understanding with Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar to inter-alia improve power connectivity with these neighbouring countries. The Ministry of Power issued the Guidelines on Cross Border Trade of Electricity on 05.12.2016, which was subsequently substituted by the ‘Guidelines for Import/Export (Cross Border) of Electricity-2018’ issued on 18.12.2018, to promote cross border trade of electricity with neighbouring countries. Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) issued CERC (Cross Border Trade of Electricity) Regulations, 2019 on 8th March 2019. Further to improve power connectivity with neighbouring countries, following interconnections are at various stages of implementation:-

(i) 400kV operation of Muzaffarpur (India) – Dhalkebar (Nepal) 400kV D/c line (operated at 220kV)

(ii) Baharampur (India) – Bheramara (Bangladesh) 2nd 400kV D/c line
(iii) Alipurduar (India) – Jigmeling (Bhutan) 400kV D/c (Quad) line
(iv) Gorakhpur (India) – New Butwal (Nepal) 400kV D/c (Quad) line
(v) Sitamarhi (India) – Dhalkebar (Nepal) – Arun-3 HEP (Nepal) 400kV D/c (Quad) line

(c) : No, Sir. Nepal and Bangladesh are not using Indian Transmission Grid to trade power between two countries.

(d) : The trading arrangement for import/export of electricity with neighboring countries, including Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh would facilitate regional trade in power and help in meeting the requirement of power in the respective countries thereby moving towards greater energy security in the region.

(e) : India already has regional power system integration with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal through high voltage synchronous (Alternating Current) and asynchronous (High Voltage Direct Current) connections. Learning from the best practices of advanced nations, the latest technologies like STATCOM, Voltage Source Converter based HVDC system, etc. have been deployed in the Indian grid as a continuous measure of improvement for facilitating power transfer with reliability amongst regional neighbouring countries.

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