Bangladesh is likely to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Nepal today (Wednesday) to import electricity from the Himalayan kingdom as India has assured its assistance to electricity transmission through its territory.
"We have targeted to ink a government-to-government MoU with Nepal as both the countries are interested to increase bilateral cooperation," State Minister for the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) Nasrul Hamid told the FE Tuesday.
He said Bangladesh is interested to import electricity from Nepal to meet the country's increased electricity demand.
"We are also interested to invest in hydropower projects in Nepal to ensure electricity import from there," Mr Hamid said.
A four-member Nepalese team, led by Energy Minister Radha Kumari Gyawali arrived in Dhaka on Tuesday afternoon for a bilateral meeting over energy sector cooperation between the two neighbouring countries of South Asia.
The issues relating to bilateral cooperation, required amount of investment, and other relevant issues would be discussed during the meeting.
Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pankaj Saran in a meeting with the State Minister assured all-out support to facilitate electricity import from Nepal, Mr Hamid said.
"The Indian High Commissioner has assured me of the cooperation for electricity transmission through the Indian territory," he added.
Bangladesh will also be interested to invest in the 900 megawatt (MW) Upper Karnali hydropower project of Nepal, in particular, which is being promoted by Indian multinational, GMR, said Mr Hamid. During the three-day visit, the Nepalese delegation will visit the Bheramara high- voltage direct current (HVDC) sub-station through which Bangladesh is importing electricity from India. "We have arranged visit of the Nepalese delegation to the Bheramara substation," Managing Director of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Ltd (PGCB) Masum-Al-Beruni told the FE Tuesday.
The PGCB has infrastructure to facilitate import of around 500 MW of electricity from India, he said.
But the electricity transmission loss is eating up around 30-35 MW of electricity, he said. Bangladesh can import around 470 MW of electricity under current mechanism although there is a deal to import 500 MW of electricity from India, he added.
"We have taken steps to import 30-35MW more electricity from open market of India," said Mr Beruni.
