IEX starts cross-border electricity trade

This is a first-of-its-kind initiative for the exchanges to expand their power markets beyond India to the South Asia region

New Delhi: The Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) 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 towards building an integrated South Asian regional power market, IEX said in a statement.

In a remarkable development following the notification of CBET Regulations by CERC (central electricity regulatory commission) in the year 2019 and the recent notification of CBET Rules in March 2021 by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), NVVN (Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd, a trading arm of NTPC) has secured approval from the CEA, for Nepal’s participation in the day-ahead market on the Exchange.

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“The Indian Energy Exchange, India’s premiere energy marketplace, is pleased to announce the commencement of the Cross Border Electricity Trade (CBET) on its platform,” the statement said. Currently, the cross-border trade with neighboring countries for India stands at about 18 BU (billion units) conducted through 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 FY27, according to a study by IRADe.

While the macro-economic growth in the South Asia region has 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.

S N Goel, chairman and managing director, IEX, said, “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, Goel added.

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