Emphasis on geopolitical impact management and transmission network expansion in energy development

In the program, Arun Kumar Subedi, an expert in economic, political, geopolitical and diplomatic affairs, said that there is a geopolitical influence on Nepal's water resources and energy development. However, such influence should be managed without trying to escape, he said.

"If it can be managed without running away from the geopolitical influence on energy and water resources, it will happen to Djibouti and Singapore," he said, "If its pressures are made a matter of prestige and the arm starts to shrink, it will happen to Yemen and Ethiopia". And sometimes the arms will also shrink and if they start saying 'Twameva Mata Chapita Twameva', it will be Sri Lanka and Nepal . This is the reality of geo-politics.'

He also said that the sooner we can exchange water resources bilaterally and trilaterally, the sooner we can reach prosperity by considering hydropower as a by-product of water resources.

He said that we should not make an emotional opinion about the two neighboring countries. He said that it would not be wise to try hard to provide electricity to the 32 million population of the Kerung region of China, leaving aside the main topic of electricity trade in the large market of India and Bangladesh, which has a population of more than one and a half billion. He said that it would be wise to make a 33 KV line to supply electricity to the settlements in the north.

"Will the high voltage transmission line to the north be brought to melt the snow?," he said, "This is what challenges geopolitics." He emphasized that reservoir projects should be built and electricity should be exchanged with India through a long-term electricity trade agreement rather than through the 'exchange market'. In the

program, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Sandeep Kumar Dev said that the ministry is preparing to expand transmission lines and facilitate trade with electricity generation in the country. He has said that he is going to bring guidelines on wheeling charges of transmission lines. Similarly, he said, provision has been made in the Electricity Bill 2080 to involve the private sector in the construction of transmission lines and electricity trading.

He said that the goal of exporting 15,000 megawatts by producing 28,500 megawatts of electricity in 12 years has been prepared based on facts. He said that internal and cross-border high capacity transmission lines should be constructed in parallel for bilateral and trilateral electricity trade. He also said that the construction of the reservoir project for energy security is the major challenge now.

Former Deputy Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority Rajeev Sharma said that if high capacity internal transmission lines cannot be expanded in the country, the electricity produced in one place will be wasted and there will be a shortage of electricity in another place. He narrated the experience of not being able to bring electricity even from India due to the lack of internal high voltage capacity lines even though it is possible to bring it.

Although it is possible to bring electricity, "We have been building the Hetauda-Dhalkebar Innerwa 288 km long 400 kV transmission line for 15 years," he said, "electricity is being wasted in the Marsyangdi corridor." In the

program, Prawal Adhikari, former Deputy Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority, gave a presentation titled 'Opportunities and Challenges of International Electricity Trade: Mission 1500'. During the presentation, he said that there is a possibility that Nepal can trade electricity bilaterally, trilaterally and even at BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) level, but transmission infrastructure is the main challenge.

"From the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur 400 KV transmission line, which was put into operation in 2016, the full capacity of 1200 MW has not been transmitted even in 2024," he said, "There is no reason to blame another country." We could not prepare our own internal high capacity transmission line properly.'

He pointed out that there are challenges such as adjusting the succession of grid codes, bringing uniformity in policies, and managing investment in broadcasting infrastructure construction. "We are very behind in restructuring the energy sector," he said, "In the production sector, the private sector was brought in, but the private sector could not be brought in in transmission, trade, and distribution." All are run by the same entity. In these areas too, the private sector will make it through environmental policies.

He said that there is a smell of geopolitics in the Indian government's guidelines for cross-border electricity trade. He said that we can make the arrangement that India does not buy electricity from projects invested by third countries other than India flexible through political and diplomatic means.

Gokanarraj Panth, Deputy Director General of Electricity Development Department, said that it is positive for the development of Nepal's electricity sector that energy entrepreneurs in the private sector are taking the initiative for electricity business. "When the 15th five-year plan was being prepared, we had made preparations to produce 40,000 megawatts of electricity by 2043," he said. Because of that, there is more concern about consumption, market and trade than production. He said that it will be easier if the private sector is regulated in the law to trade electricity. In the

program, Deputy Executive Director of Business Development Directorate of Nepal Electricity Authority, Pradeep Kumar Thike said that the problem of power shortage in winter cannot be solved unless the reservoir project is developed. To meet the current requirement, the Authority has called for a PPP for 800 MW of solar power and it is the policy of the Authority to increase it to 2000 MW of solar power generation. He said that it is a challenge to trade electricity unless the internal transmission line is developed parallel to the international one.

Ipan's former chairman and energy entrepreneur Krishna Prasad Acharya said that the progress made in production in the last 30 years after the entry of the private sector into the 113-year history of electricity development in Nepal revealed the success of the private sector. He said that now the private sector is capable of meeting the target of 28,500 megawatts brought by the government, and now it should be given to the private sector for business.

'Why stop the private sector from doing business ?,' he said, 'The private sector is ready for electricity development if the PPI rate is given to attract the private sector in construction of transmission lines, reservoir projects and solar power Ashish Garg, the facilitator of the program, said that although the geopolitical shadow has added more problems to energy trade and development, there is a need to accept it and find a solution through diplomatic means.

The expo that started on Wednesday ended on Friday . 7 different technical sessions were conducted during the expo.