State-run Power Grid Corporation (PGCIL) has signed a pact with Bangladesh to build a transmission corridor at a cost of Rs 76 crore for supplying 100 MW power to the neighbouring country. The line, nearly 30 km in length, will initially operate at 132 KV and will be ramped up to 400 KV in future.
Power Grid will execute the transmission line project on the Indian side of the India–Bangladesh border in Tripura. On the other side, Bangladesh will build the connecting line from Comilla substation. The project is likely to ease India’s energy starved neighbour that faces a peak shortage of about 1500 at present.
“The bipartite power transmission agreement will involve a double circuit line with extension of bay from Surjya Mani Nagar in Tripura. The applicable transmission charges will be as per the Central Electricity Regulatory Authority (CERC) guidelines,” a Power Grid official told FE. Power Grid will use the substation of the state utility for extension of the line right up to the international border with Bangladesh.
This will be the second power transmission line between the two countries. The existing transmission corridor, which is 400 KV and 125 km, lies between Baharampur and Bheramara and exports 500 MW of power to Bangladesh. India supplies 250 MW from its unallocated quota of power, while the remaining 250 MW was contracted from the electricity market. The line became operational in September 2013.
“Bangladesh would likely enter into an agreement with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam as it has done for the already operational line. The country also has an option of tying up a power purchase agreement with Power Trading Corporation once the transmission line is up and running,” the official added. The line is likely to be operational by May 2016.
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