November 24: Three sugar mills are preparing to sell electricity to Nepal Electricity Authority this season. Everest Sugar Mills of Mahottari, Indu Shankar Sugar Mills of Sarlahi and Reliance Sugar Mills of Bara are making necessary preparations to sell the electricity that they produce themselves from the waste product of sugarcane.

Chairman of Nepal Sugar Producers Association Sashikanta Agrawal said that they are preparing to sell electricity from this winter season when the government faces shortage of electricity.

The sugar mills are planning to sell 7 megawatts of electricity this season. Agrawal says that they are in the final phase of preparation for selling the electricity which they produce from biomass.

“We have already made preparations to connect the transmission line from the mills to the nearest sub-station,” said Agrawal, who is the proprietor of Everest Sugar Mills.

“Altogether three sugar mills are in a position to sell a total of 7 megawatts of electricity from this season,” he added.

Indu Shankar and Everest sugar mills have already taken permission from the Department of Electricity Development to produce 3 megawatts of electricity each. They have also signed an agreement with the NEA to purchase or sell electricity at the “posted rate” of Rs 8.4 per unit.

Similarly, Reliance Sugar Mills, which has taken permission from the board to survey the possibility of producing 10 megawatts of electricity, is also preparing to sell excess of electricity from this season. The company, however, is yet to acquire license, informed Director General of the department Navin Raj Singh.

The sugar mills will be operational within a month. Operators of the mills say they will be in a position to sell electricity as soon as they start producing sugar. NEA says that it can purchase electricity from sugar mills with whom it has signed power purchase agreements (PPA).

Sugar mills normally operate during the winter season from mid-December to mid-April. The electricity produced by sugar mills by burning biomass is considered of great significance, especially because the production of hydroelectricity is reduced to a great extent during winter season.