Establishing itself as a net exporter of electricity in the current financial year, India exported 5,798 MU during the April 2016- February 2017 period to its neighbouring countries, including Myanmar. This amounts up to an approximate 4 per cent more than the 5,585 MU it imported from Bhutan, as revealed by the data from Central Electricity Authority.
India began cross-border trade in electricity in the mid 1980s, by importing power from hydel projects built in Bhutan, and supplying small quantities to Nepal as part of government-to-government deals. Since then, it has established a mesh of cross-border interlinks for supply from Nepal and Bangladesh. India has been importing 5,000 to 5,500 MUs from Bhutan, while exporting 190MW to Nepal over 12 cross-border lines from Bihar and UP, and 600 MW to Bangladesh through two interconnects from Bengal and Tripura. With rising cross-border wheeling capacity, exports to Nepal and Bangladesh have showed an increase of 2.5 and 2.8 times, respectively, in the last three years.
The development also coincides with efforts to export coal to Bangladesh, an indication to the situation changing from shortage to surplus. India's power plants faced acute fuel shortage until three years ago. But, steps taken by the Modi government in the last three years have amped it enough to look at exports, even if in small quantities, to maintain pace of mining and reduce stocks piling up at mines.
Peak shortage came at 1.6 per cent in the period till February in the current fiscal against 4.7 per cent in 2014-15, while peak shortage reduced to 0.7 per cent from 47 per cent in the same period. At the same time, power plants, on a national average, operate at roughly 60 per cent, down from nearly 65 per cent in 2014-15.
