Indian Energy Exchange gears up for cross border power trade

In a move that would boost cross border exchange of electricity, country’s largest power bourse IEX expects to have participants from neighbouring Bangladesh and Nepal trading on its platform in the “next few months”.

The necessary approvals that would pave the way for Bangladesh and Nepal to purchase electricity from the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) are getting processed, a senior exchange official said.

“We are expecting breakthrough in cross-border exchange transactions in the next few months,” IEX Director (Business Development) Rajesh Kumar Mediratta told PTI.

“Bangladesh interconnector has spare capacity of about 30-100 MW in different periods in the year. Nepal has strengthened existing 132 kV lines with Bihar. Necessary approvals are under process. We hope to achieve adding these countries as our participants soon,” he noted.

At present, about 150 MW electricity is imported by Nepal while it is around 500 MW for Bangladesh.

Purchasing electricity through the exchange would also ensure price discovery through a transparent and neutral platform, according to IEX.

To facilitate cross border exchange of electricity, IEX would also be having separate bid area for each country.

“In the long-run, we would like to see IEX as South Asian exchange on the same model as NordpoolSpot (Scandinavian and Baltic countries) and EPEXSpot (France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria),” Mediratta said.

With 96 per cent market share, IEX is the country’s largest power exchange and witnesses an average daily trade of about 80,000 MWh electricity. The bourse has more than 3,000 participants.

Source : Business Standard