IANS

India has become a net exporter of electricity for the first time during the eleven months (April-February) of the current fiscal, the government said on Wednesday. "As per Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the designated authority of government of India for cross border trade of electricity, first time India has turned around from a net importer of electricity to net exporter of electricity," a Power Ministry statement said here.

"During the current year 2016-17 (April to February 2017), India has exported around 5,798 million units (MU) to Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar, which is 213 MU more than the import of around 5,585 MU from Bhutan," it said. "Export to Nepal and Bangladesh increased 2.5 and 2.8 times respectively in the last three years," it added.

According to the statement, ever since the cross border trade of electricity started in the mid-1980s, India has been importing power from Bhutan and marginally exporting to Nepal. On an average, Bhutan has been supplying around 5,000-5,500 MU to India, it said. India had also been exporting around 190 MW power to Nepal over 12 cross border interconnections.

The export of power to Nepal further increased by around 145 MW with the commissioning of Muzaffarpur (India)-Dhalkhebar (Nepal) 400kV line, the statement added. India expects the export of power to Nepal to increase by around 145 MW shortly over the 132 kV Katiya (Bihar)-Kusaha (Nepal) and 132 kV Raxaul (Bihar)-Parwanipur (Nepal) links.

The ministry said that at present, around 600 MW power is being exported to Bangladesh. A few more cross border links with neighbouring countries are in the pipeline which would further increase export of power, it added.