Transmission and Cross-Border Electricity Trade
A source-bounded guide to the corridors and market interfaces that turn generation into domestic service or electricity trade.
- Page status
- Verified core
- Updated
- 2026-07-19
- Last reviewed
- 2026-11-04
- Review due
- 2027-02-04
Why this branch matters
Generation has value only when it can reach a load or an authorised market. Nepal's internal grid, substations, cross-border lines, export approvals and dispatch rules therefore form one delivery chain. A constraint at any point can strand otherwise available generation.
What is established
- Nepal reported annual electricity exports above imports in FY2024/25, while dry-season imports continued.
- The Hetauda–Dhalkebar–Inaruwa 400 kV backbone remains a high-value internal corridor. NEA maintenance notices show conductor-stringing work on the Hetauda–Dhalkebar section on 3 and 5 July 2026.
- Those notices do not establish a final tower count, commercial energisation or corridor completion.
- The public evidence supports transmission and market access as material constraints. It does not provide the plant-level dispatch data required to calculate a current national curtailment total or rank transmission above every other constraint.
Cross-border trade
India is Nepal's principal electricity-market interface. Bangladesh trade uses Indian transmission territory and therefore adds a buyer without removing corridor and regulatory dependence. Trade volumes, prices and approval scope must be dated because they change faster than the physical river system.
Community and delivery process
The Bharatpur–Bardaghat case shows that a mediated process can resolve a specific transmission dispute: NEA and 63 community members reached an agreement concerning the final two towers after a World Bank Dispute Resolution Service process. Its terms were confidential, and its voluntary, case-specific structure does not prove that the model transfers unchanged to other corridors. See the evidence-led transmission Decision Dossier.
Data gaps
- Circuit- and substation-level available transfer capability.
- Dated synchronisation of generation and evacuation assets.
- Plant-level dispatch, congestion and curtailment reason codes.
- A single reconciled public table of export approvals, contract terms and actual delivery.
Related
Transmission and Delivery Are Material Immediate Monetization Constraints · India — Energy Relationship with Nepal · Electricity Trade Time Series · Hetauda–Dhalkebar–Inaruwa 400 kV Backbone