The operationalisation of the 400kv cross-border Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur electric will enable the Nepal  Electricity Authority (NEA) to export electricity to India,  The Himalayan Times reported.

Madan Timsina, spokesperson of NEA, said, “With the completion of the project, Nepal will be able to transmit ( to India) up to 1,000 megawatts of electricity through the country’s first-ever high-voltage cross-border transmission line — the 400 kV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur Transmission Line.”

Both India and Nepal exchange electricity under the power trade agreement through more than a dozen transnational transmission lines.

The completion of the Dhalbekar substation is a significant milestone for the power sector of the country. The substation will connect the east-west electricity transmission in Nepal. The substation will also supply power to the western part of the country.

However, due to the absence of the transmission lines across the country, Nepal itself will not fully benefit from the substation for some time in the near future.  The spokesperson of NEA admitted that the country needs to develop its transmission network to consume the power generated by the substation.

According to Shailendra Guragain, president of Independent Power Producers’ Association Nepal, either the government should create a favourable environment within the country for the consumption of surplus energy by encouraging domestic industries to utilize the electricity when it is surplus in off-peak hours (night time) by providing them with electricity at subsidized rates or it should build an international collaboration for power trade through a government-to-government model.”