500MW additional Indian power within a year

India’s grid manager Power System Operation Corporation (POSOCO) says exporting 500MW additional power to Bangladesh will soon be possible once the SAARC grid is up and running within a year

New Delhi Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 9 July 2015, 07:00 AM
Updated : 9 July 2015, 07:01 AM

“We could also draw considerably higher volumes of hydropower from Bhutan and Nepal,” said VK Agrawal, executive director, National Load Despatch Centre at POSOCO.

He was addressing a national conference on ‘Power Transmission and Distribution’ of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Indian government finalised a consensus over inter-country grid connecting the SAARC countries, which was pending for four years, in a meeting held with the representatives in the annual SAARC energy ministers meeting in Delhi in October 2014.

India's junior power minister Piyush Goyal had then said initial discussions would start for an integrated power transmission grid connecting India with its neighbours, wherein excess production of power in one region can be used to meet deficit elsewhere

“In view of ever-growing bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh after PM Modi's visit to Dhaka, a decision has been taken to supply additional 500 MW of gas-fed electricity to Bangladesh,” said Agrawal.

India is already exporting 500MW of power to Bangladesh. Agarwal said the government has recently concluded that another 500MW power supply be restored to Bangladesh after completion of SAARC grid, which is likely to take a year.

The SAARC grid, which would connect India with its neighbouring countries with cross-border transmission network, is currently evolving.

India-Bhutan, India-Nepal and India-Bangladesh grids are getting interconnected and cross-border trade in bilateral mode is already taking place.