Biznextindia : The Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), India’s premiere energy marketplace, on Monday announced the commencement of Cross Border Electricity Trade (CBET) on its platform. This is a first-of-its kind initiative for the Exchanges to expand their power markets beyond India to the South Asia region. IEX is working closely with PTC, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd. (NVVN), and all other designated nodal agencies for Cross Border Electricity Trade to facilitate inter-country power trade through the Exchange Market
In a remarkable development following the notification of CBET Regulations by CERC in the year 2019 and the recent notification of CBET Rules in March’21 by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), NVVN has secured approval from the CEA, for Nepal’s participation in the day-ahead market on the Exchange.
Currently, the Cross Border Trade with neighboring countries for India stands at about 18 BU conducted through the medium to long term bilateral contracts. As per the CEA and CERC, as on date, India imports 8.7 BU from Bhutan and exports 2.37 BU and 7 BU to Nepal and Bangladesh, respectively. The power trade with these countries is expected to increase to about 40 BU by FY22 and 70 BU to FY 27 according to a study by IRADe. While the macro-economic growth in the South Asia region have been one of the strongest in the world, the region has been confronting with challenges related to power demand-supply balance and the low per capita power consumption.
“We are immensely delighted to welcome Nepal as the first country to commence the cross-border electricity trade in our day ahead electricity market. With a large installed power generation capacity base of 382 GW and peak demand of about 185 GW, India is a power surplus country. We have a unique opportunity to lead the regional power market development and make efforts towards enhancing the energy access and security amongst the neighboring nations in the region” said S N Goel, Chairman & Managing Director, IEX.