KATHMANDU: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has received renewal approval for 283 megawatts of electricity export.

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) under India’s Ministry of Power renewed the approval on Wednesday for the export of 283 megawatts of electricity generated from eight different hydropower projects in Nepal.

The NEA is currently selling surplus electricity after meeting domestic consumption in the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) under the day-ahead market (DAM) and real-time market (RTM) at competitive rates and to the states of Haryana and Bihar under a bilateral medium-term power purchase agreement.

Electricity is also being exported to Bangladesh using India’s transmission system.

The renewal was granted for four projects that had approval to sell electricity at competitive rates in the IEX market.

The approval for the 103 MW generated from those projects had expired on various dates. The export approval for all projects has been renewed for approximately one year, effective from last Tuesday.

Similarly, approximately 180 MW of electricity generated from four projects was being sold to the state of Haryana under a bilateral agreement.

The approval given for the sale to the state of Haryana is set to expire on Thursday. The NEA sells electricity to Haryana every year between June and October.

The NEA had also sought permission to sell the electricity from the projects approved for sale to Haryana in the IEX market. India’s Central Electricity Authority approved this proposal.

Now, the electricity generated from these four projects can also be continuously sold in the IEX from Friday.

During his visit to New Delhi to attend the 8th Assembly of the International Solar Alliance, Minister Kulman Ghising met with his Indian counterpart, Manohar Lal Khattar, and urged him to simplify the process for granting electricity export approval.

Ghising had also requested immediate approval for the renewal proposal, as Nepal’s electricity generation is currently at its peak.