NEA Manages Disaster Outages with Imports as Long-Term Deals Advance
The Nepal Electricity Authority is arranging emergency power imports from India following disaster-related outages, while moving forward with Indian export agreements and a $200 million ADB-backed storage initiative.
Nepal's state power utility is turning to cross-border emergency imports to plug heavy transmission and generation losses from severe monsoon weather, even as it locks in multi-year export agreements and private infrastructure partnerships to stabilize the power grid.
Following catastrophic flood and landslide damage across the country, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is working to import 1,154 megawatts of electricity from India, Nepali Times reported. The purchases will arrive primarily through cross-border interconnectors including the Dhalkebar–Muzaffarpur and Tanakpur–Mahendranagar lines. Flooding along the Trishuli River last month knocked out over 400 megawatts of generation, while subsequent downpours and landslides stripped an additional 800 megawatts from domestic transmission and hydropower assets, creating immediate deficits in national supply.
Despite the temporary domestic shortfalls caused by the disaster, the utility is simultaneously advancing seasonal power trade arrangements. The NEA decided to export 85.6 megawatts of surplus rainy-season electricity to the Indian energy exchange through Tata Power Trading Company Limited, according to reporting by Nagarik News and DC Nepal. The transaction, which permits future capacity increases by mutual consent, runs from 1 November 2026 to 31 May 2029.
NEA board member Anshukiran Shahi told Nagarik News and DC Nepal that the electricity regulatory commission endorsed the arrangement in mid-August following board discussions in July. Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha subsequently signed the decision on 19 September, formalizing the sales draft and delegating execution authority to NEA Managing Director Dirghayu Kumar Shrestha.
Alongside immediate trading arrangements, the utility is taking steps to address systemic grid bottlenecks. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the NEA signed transaction advisory agreements to develop transmission and energy storage infrastructure under public-private partnerships (PPP), Setopati reported. The deals represent the first PPP advisory agreements for ADB members covering transmission lines alongside standalone utility-scale battery energy storage systems, and are intended to attract over $200 million in private capital.
The venture includes constructing a roughly 134-kilometre, 400-kilovolt transmission corridor connecting Tingla, New Khimti, and Dhalkebar. In addition, the initiative will deploy 100 to 150 megawatt-hours of utility-scale battery energy storage systems across designated substations to balance intermittency from renewable sources and smooth peak-hour grid pressures. ADB Nepal Country Director Arnaud Cauchois noted that while electrification in Nepal expanded from 58 percent in 2016 to 99 percent in 2025, modernizing grid stability and storage remains essential for steady domestic power distribution and sustained regional electricity trade.