-l- I I Minutes of the 4th Joint Working Group (JWG) Meeting on Nepal - India Cooperation in Power Sector 13th Feb 2017, Kathmandu Shri Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Energy, Government of Nepal welcomed the delegation of India and appreciated the cooperation extended by the Government of lndia to mitigate the power crisis in Nepal. Shri R K Verma, Chairperson, Central Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power, Government of India, thanked him and Government of Nepal for the hospitality extended to the Indian delegation. List of delegation is given (Annexure-A). (1) Adoption of agenda: Both sides adopted the agenda provided at Annexure-B. (2) Review of the decisions of the 3'd JWG meeting held on 27 June 2016 in New Delhi, India: Decisions of the 3'd JWG meeting were reviewed and discussed under the agenda items as below. (3) Revie'rv of progress of Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur 400 kV D/C cross border transmission line and its status: The JWG noted with satisfaction that the power flow through Muzaffarpur - Dhalkebar 400kV D/c line, presently operated at l32kY, has been enhanced from 80MW to about 120 MW in January 2017 and further to 145 MW in February 2017 with the installation of 2nd 2201132kY, 100MVA Interconnecting transformer (lCT) at Muzaffarpur s/s by POWERGRID. With this, the total drau,al of por.r,er by Nepal on existing 33 kV 1132 kY links between India and Nepal has been enhanced to about 370-380 MW power, which was beneficial to a great extent in reducing the power shortage in Kathmandu area. i) Nepal side stated that the limit of drawal from the Dhalkebar - Muzaffarpur line set at 160 MVA has caused problems during short periods of load fluctuations above 145 MW by Nepal to balance the system demand. Nepal side requested that the settings of the protective limit of the line be raised so as to allow Nepal to draw 145MW in a steady manner. lndia side said that Nepal side may send the technical inputs of the matter and assured to address the issue at its earliest. ii) In regard to 220kY operation of the Dhalkebar - Muzaffarpur line, Nepal side informed that the construction works associated with 2201132 kV substation at Dhalkebar are in progress and the line would be charged at220l<Y by May 2017. India side stated that for effective utilization of Dhalkebar - Muzaffarpur line at 220 kY, the operation at 220 kV of the Inaruwa - Dhalkebar -New Hetauda 400kV line which is M Ce- under-construction should be matched with the timeline of the Dhalkebar - Muzaffarpur line, Nepal side stated that lnaruwa - Dhalkebar -New Hetauda 400kV line is expected to be commissioned in about eighteen months from now, however, efforts shall be made to complete them at the earliest possible. iii) Regarding the operation of the line at 400kV, Nepal side informed that GON will allocate the required fund from internal sources for the construction of 400 kV substation at Dhalkebar, for which tender documents are being prepared. Accordingly, the Dhalkebar 4001220 kV substation is envisaged to be completed by the end of August 2019. Further, regarding the funding for Hetauda and Inaruwa 400 kV substations in Nepal, Nepal side informed that GON is in the process of preparing the proposal for next Line-of- Credit requirement from Exim Bank of India. iv) India side informed that fbr operation of Muzaffarpur - Dhalkebar line at 400kV level Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) needs to sign an agreement with POWERGRID for payment of transmission charges for 2 nos. of 400kV line bays at Muzaffarpur substation similar to the agreement signed by NEA with Cross Border Transmission Company (CPTC) for payment of transmission charges for the line. Nepal side agreed the same and stated that having reviewed the overalI progress of 400 kV Dhalkebar- Muzaffarpur line, it will be suitable to sign the agreement with POWERCRID about24 months prior to scheduled commissioning of 4001220 kV Dhalkebar substation. (4) Review of progress of ongoing cross-border system strengthening works: (i) Kataiya - Kusaha 132 kV S/C on D/C line with Panther conductor (iD Raxaul - Parwanipur 132 kV S/C on D/c line with Panther conductor Nepal side informed that Raxaul - Parwanipur transmission line including related sub- stations has already been completed, whereas Kataiya - Kusaha Transmission line and associated substation works are expected to be completed by mid-February 2017. It was also confirmed that downstream system associated with these Transmission lines in Nepal is ready for drawal of power. Both sides agreed to put their best efforts to charge the Kataiya-Kusaha as well as the Raxaul - Parwanipur line by 25th of February 2017 . (s) Review of power trade through existing cross-border links and initiation of power trade through Kataiya - Kusaha and Raxaul - Parwanipur 132 kV new links: It was noted that the supplementary Power Purchase Agreement signed between NEA and NV\rN for the power supply through Dhalkebar - Muzaffarpur line at 132 kV will expire M 2 l, in May 2017. Nepal side requested to extend the existing agreement under the same terms and conditions beyond }y'ray 2017 for another one year. India side noted the request and stated that the commercial terms and conditions can be discussed separately. Regarding supply of power from Tanakpur, Nepal side informed that NEA and NHPC together undertook a site visit to Tanakpur substation and proposed two options ie. installing additional 50 MVA Transformer by shifting wall and fences about 15m eastward, or replacing existing ICT by a single 100 MVA transformer. India side informed that putting an additional 50 MVA transformer would be a better option than installing a single 100 MVA transformer as it would not only increase the reliability of power supply but also minimize shutdown period. It was agreed by both the parties to explore the technical, financial and commercial aspects of implementation of augmentation by additional transformer at Tanakpur. Nepal side requested that NEA may draw power up to 10 MW through existing 33 kV cross border link between Dhangadi Q.Jepal) and Paliya (India) and a request letter to this effect has already been sent. India side agreed to examine the proposal and communicate accordingly. Regarding commercial arrangement for drawal of power through Kataiya - Kusaha and Raxaul - Parwanipur 132 kV new links, Nepal side stated that Nepal may be allowed to draw power through these lines under power trading mode, similar to existing power purchase agreement with NV\N. India side stated that the terms and conditions for the same can be discussed separately. (6) Review of progress of Joint Technical Team (JTT) and Joint Operation Committee (Joc) i) Review of progress of planned New Butrval- Gorakhpur (New) 400kV D/C (Quad) Moose Cross- Border transmission Iine. ii) Associated Transmission System for Arun-lll Hydro Project, iii) Associated Transmission System for Upper Karnali Hydro Project. iv) Associated Transmission System for Pancheshwar Hydro Project. The JTT gave a presentation on various tasks assigned to it. The JWG appreciated the works caruied out by the JTT. The discussions on the findings of JTT in various tasks are as follows : I I i) Review of progress of planned New Bufwal- Gorakhpur (New) 400kV D/C (Quad) Moose Cross- Border transmission line - The JTT presented the project repoft of the 2"d high capacity New Butwal - Gorakhpur (New) 400kV D/c (Quad) Moose Cross - Border transmission line. The transmission line willbe approximately 140 km in length, with 120 km in India and 20km in Nepal territory. The estimated cost of the project is INR 721.70 Cr. comprising of INR 515.33 Cr. and INR. 206.37 Cr. in Indian and Nepal portion, respectively. It was also stated that the New Butwal - New Hetauda - Dhalkebar - Inaruwa 400kV D/c line along with 4O0l220kY substation at Dhalkebar in Nepal also need to be ready in matching time frame of New Butwal - Gorakhpur Q'{ew) line. This would complete the 400kV Muzaffarpur-Dhalkebar- New Hetauda-New Butwal-GorakhpurQ',trew)-Muzaffarpur ring connecting India and Nepal grid thereby ensuring maximum utilization of these two lines. The JTT proposed that the portions of the cross-border interconnection in Nepal and India territory may be implemented by Nepalese and Indian side respectively. The timeline for its implementation will be approximately 30 months from award of contract and is expected to be completed by 2019-20. fhe JWG appreciated the work done by the JTT and accepted the report regarding the Technical aspects and cost estimates. The report shall be put up to JSC for endorsement. Irr regard to transmission charges of the line, India side of the JTT had opined that the link is initially required by Nepal to imporl power from lndia. Accordingly, Nepal is required to sign an agreement for payment of transmission charges corresponding to Indian portion of the cross border transmission link. Whenever the link would be utilized for export of power by Nepal, then the transmission charges of Indian portion of the link may be recovered by Nepal entity from the Indian beneficiary/beneficiaries utilizing the corridor. The Nepal side of the JTT had proposed that since the power flow through this line is expected to be in either direction in future, reciprocal arrangements need to be made about the transmission charges. In the JWG, Nepal side proposed that this cross-border transmission line may be funded and implemented in aGZG model by the governments in the respective territories or in the similar model as the Raxaul - Parwanipur and Kataiya - Kusaha 132 kV transmission lines. India side stated that the transmission line may be implemented on commercial principles and as such transmission charges should be paid by the beneficiary who is drawing the power.