At a time when Nepal’s surplus electricity generation is a matter of concern for the policymakers, recent efforts taken by Secretary of Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Dinesh Kumar Ghimire has brought some respite.

Energy secretary, Ghimire, who has a long experiences of taking part in negotiations with India, has been able to convince Indian energy secretary to allow Nepal to enter its energy market.

In a roundtable of South Asian Power Secretaries organized by the World Bank, power secretary of India promised to look at Nepal’s request positively and expressed the commitment to have a separate, one-to-one, meeting with Nepal’s energy secretary to resolve all the issues.

Secretary of Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Ghimire proposed to India an interim arrangement for Nepal to participate in Indian competitive market saying that approval for CBR is going to take time due to ongoing pandemic.

At roundtable on the effect of COVID-19, Ghimire also requested with his Indian counterpart to make the necessary arrangements for PCR test of Indian experts who need to come to Dhalkebar substation to test and commission the 400 kV substation.

He also requested the finalization of shareholder agreement between NEA and PGCIL and discussed paving the way to get our cabinet approval soon and to expedite the establishment of JV company in India.

He thanked the secretary of India for his generous support in facilitating the movement of vehicles with the construction equipment being brought to Nepal.

Having spent his entire career in the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Secretary Dinesh Kumar Ghimire knows what policy prescriptions are needed for the sector.

As an electric engineer by profession, secretary Ghimire is well aware of the loss of energy in the absence of proper market for it. This is the reason he is very much for exploring the market.

As COVID-19 is likely to affect Nepal’s industrial sector, Nepal needs to search for a market to sell its surplus electricity from the coming year as the need of the hour.

Along with the guarantee of access to market Nepal needs cross-border transmission lines to evacuate the electricity to the market. As India is Nepal’s largest market, secretary Ghimire has been persuading his Indian counterpart to support Nepal to make this possible.

Ghimire said the completion of 400 kV substation will allow both the countries to transact enhanced amount of power. Similarly, secretary Ghimire thanked the World Bank for approving DPC2 credit of 100 million US dollars.

Attended by power secretaries of South Asia, the roundtable helped the participants learn about the effects of COVID-19 in the hydropower sector.