More power to be transmitted to southern states likely next month...

 

On January 14, a single national power grid would allow seamless pan-India flow of electricity in uniform frequency.

State-owned transmission utility Power Grid Corporation is set to charge its high-voltage (765 KV) transmission line between Solapur in Maharashtra and Raichur in Karnataka by the second week of January, ending isolation of the southern grid, which has remained technically cut-off from the north, east and western grids. The integration of the grids would enable consumers in south Indian states to access electricity at competitive rates from generators in the north, who produce surplus power.

“The project to connect southern grid with high-voltage AC transmission line is in the final leg of execution. We should be handed over the line by contractors in the first week of January so that it could be made operational by January 14,” Power Grid CMD RN Nayak told FE.

He added that though the southern grid was even now connected with the rest of the country, it was through a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) line that does not allow synchronous flow of electricity in a uniform frequency, but merely acts as a tap for regulated supply of power. This prevented the southern grid to automatically access surplus power available on the grid at various points of time to meet its deficit.

Southern grid is one of the five regional grids in the country. While the other four — north, west, east and the northeast — are part of one national grid, the southern grid has remained isolated. While the lack of transmission link to the south has often resulted in higher prices of power in the region, this also came a blessing in disguise during the northern grid collapse on July 30-31 last year when the region remained unaffected while large parts of the country suffered blackouts.

The southern grid connectivity project involves putting in place two circuits of 2,100 MW each on 765 KV lines. While Power Grid Corporation will make the single circuit line of 2,100 MW operational in January 2014, the other line being constructed by Patel Engineering may be up and ready.

Source

Read More...

India working on build greater energy links in the neighborhood...

 

India is working on setting up an energy-efficient power transmission (HDVC) line to Nepal and Bhutan as part of its energy security plans, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid said on Thursday.

India’s long-term plans include a grid linking South-east Asian nations with those of South Asia, including Pakistan and Afghanistan, the minister said while outlining ambitious schemes to build greater energy links in India’s neighbourhood.

Khurshid was speaking at a two-day World Energy Policy Summit that began in New Delhi on Thursday.

Among the projects on the anvil to address India’s energy deficit is the US-backed $9 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline, Khurshid said. It is expected to be completed by 2017-18.

“We are also, in a very, very nascent way, beginning to link our electricity grid to Bangladesh through the HVDC (high voltage direct current) power transmission line that we have inaugurated recently,” he said referring to 500 megawatt transmission line linking India’s eastern electrical grid to the western grid of Bangladesh that was inaugurated in October.

The Asian Development Bank, which helped finance the $199 million interconnection facilities in Bangladesh with a $112 million loan, described it as “a key step forward in regional power sharing and cooperation.”

India is also working “on the India-Nepal HVDC link which will perhaps begin with providing power to Nepal in order, ultimately, to be able to take power (import) from Nepal. Again, same sort of thing is what we hope we will be able to do with Bhutan. Nepal and Bhutan will become a major source of supply of power to India,” Khurshid said.

“Of course, we could have a grid that goes into Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). We have road connectivity with Asean, but we would also have hopefully power connectivity with Asean, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and into Pakistan and perhaps into Afghanistan as well,” Khurshid said. Asean is made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

According to the 2011 Census, only 67.2% Indian households had access to electricity. Highlighting the unmet energy needs of a large segment of the population, the International Energy Agency’s October World Energy Outlook said India is set to overtake China in the 2020s as the principal source of growth in global energy demand.

India’s Power Grid Corp., in its 2012-13 annual report, said it was preparing a feasibility study for connecting South Asia through a grid—a plan first mooted in the late 1990s. South Asian neighbours India and Pakistan have been discussing the sale of power. And as part of its reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, India has constructed a 220kV transmission line from Pul-e-Khumri to Kabul and a 220/110/20 kV sub-station at Chimtala to bring additional power from the northern grid to Kabul.

India, Pakistan and Afghanistan are part of the eight-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation which also includes Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Towards the east, India has been trying to build closer links including connectivity with the high-growth Asean countries as a means to develop its insurgency-riven northeastern region. India and the Asean have set a bilateral trade target of $100 billion by 2015.

Source

Read More...

NTPC's Trading Arm to start supplying Power to Bangladesh by next month...

 

National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) will start supplying around 250 MW of power from the next month to the neighboring country of Bangladesh.

The transaction will be managed by NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN), which is the nodal agency for supply of power to Bangladesh.

A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) has been singed for this purpose between NVVN and Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) on February 28, 2012.

According to the terms of the agreement, a Sovereign Guarantee has been handed over by the Bangladesh Power Minister to NVVN as an instrument of Payment Securing against supply of 250 MW power for 25 years. 

The power will be transmitted to Bangladesh using the High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) link between the Eastern India and Western grid of Bangladesh which is having cross border transfer capacity of 500 MW.

The transmission system on the Indian side will be executed by the Power Grid Corporation of India, which would also provide consultancy to Bangladesh, up to the commissioning for the project.

BPDB is also considering to purchase an additional 250 MW from the India.

---

More literature on this...

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/energy/power/ntpc-likely-to-start-power-supply-to-bangladesh-from-september/articleshow/21704415.cms

---

Read More...