The Hindu Business Line : India plans electricity network in South Asia

On the drive
3 new hydro projects identified in Bhutan
2 firms setting up hydroelectric stations in Nepal
Work on to put up undersea link with Sri Lanka

Anil Sasi

New Delhi, May 5 India is actively working on plans to build a pan-South Asia electricity ring.

Aimed at broad-basing India’s energy security by wheeling back the bulk of the power generated through the inter-country power projects on the anvil, the renewed “electricity diplomacy” plans also envisage a greater play for Indian firms in harnessing energy resources across the region.

While a transmission link with Bhutan is already in place, there are plans to develop two more projects in the Himalayan kingdom, besides sprucing up the existing power line, to enable up to 5,000 MW of electricity imports into India by 2020.

Plans are already underway for setting up an undersea link with Sri Lanka. In Nepal, two Indian firms — GMR Group and State-owned Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam — are setting up hydroelectric stations, while power trading major PTC India Ltd has signed pacts to wheel power from two other projects. In Myanmar, joint development of a 1,200-MW hydro project, along with a power link, is being envisaged.

“We would like to use power as a tool to ensure greater regional engagements. It is going to be a very important element of our policy going forward… Besides, Indian firms stand to gain from these efforts,” the Minister of State for Power and Commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh, told Business Line.

Nepal base

Among the neighbouring nations, Nepal, with a hydro-electric potential 83,000 MW, of which generating 45,000 MW has been estimated as techno-economically feasible, is the biggest draw. Indian firms have started making inroads, with the GMR Group having bagged the 300-MW Upper Karnali project and Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam the 402-MW Arun III project.

Separately, PTC India has committed to buy 750 MW from the West Seti project being developed by an Australian company and another 300 MW from the Lower Arun project being developed by a German firm. Meanwhile, over 10 Indian firms — including Tata Power, KSK Ventures, JSW Energy — are in the fray for developing the 600-MW Budi Gandaki project, for which tendering is underway.

Besides power developers, a host of Indian civil engineering firms, including Nagarjuna Construction Ltd, Continental Construction Ltd and Maytas Infra Ltd, are now in the running for contracts in Nepal.

More in line

In Bhutan, after the success of the 1,020-MW Tala project, from which power is already being wheeled into India, three new major hydro projects — the 1,080-MW Punatsangchhu-I, the 1,000-MW Punatsangchhu-II and the 600-MW Mengdechu hydro electric projects — have been identified for joint development, and the survey and investigation work has been initiated.

With Sri Lanka, India is already working on putting in place a $450-million mega undersea power transmission link.

The 200-km submarine cable is likely to be set up with a capacity to wheel around 1,000 MW of electricity and State-owned Power Grid Corporation is set to bag the mandate to execute the project.

NTPC, meanwhile, is already working on a 500-MW coal fired plant in Trincomalee. In the case of Burma, the Tamanthi hydroelectric project (1,200 MW) has been identified for joint development and a transmission link could be decided upon based on the progress on the project. An Indian delegation to Myanmar is expected to leave in the first week of June to discuss further action on the proposal.

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