The country started receiving 500 MW of electricity from India at zero hour on Tuesday under the joint agreement between Bangladesh and India for
cooperation in the power sector. “We initiated the test run and successfully reached a level of 422 MW within an hour. If everything goes all right, we could begin the
commercial run from zero hour of December 4,” Bangladesh-India Friendship Company Ltd project director Kazi Istiaq Hasan told The Independent.
He added that both grid sub-stations successfully completed the test run at 11am under the joint agreement between Bangladesh and India for cooperation in the power
sector. The country formally began importing power from India on October 3.
Energy-starved Bangladesh has signed two deals with India to import electricity along with the long-pending SAARC grid connectivity project. One of the deals was with
the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) of India to purchase around 250 MW of electricity from the national grid for the next 25 years. In the other agreement,
the Power Development Board (PDB) has chalked out plans to import 250 MW of power from the Indian private sector under a four-year deal. The tenure of the agreement
can be extended further on the basis of mutual understanding.
Bangladesh will buy electricity from the Indian public sector at a rate of Tk 6.35 per unit. It also has to pay the transmission charges at USD 0.004 per unit of
electricity.
Power Trading Company (PTC) India Limited, an Indian electricity company, will supply power to Bangladesh for four years through India’s NTPC power plants in West
Bengal. Its price will be fixed at the market price.
“Import of electricity for three years from India’s open market would cost Tk. 41.69 billion,” a senior official disclosed.
A provision is included in the contract which says the trading company will include tariff escalation, in accordance with the rules of the Indian Central Energy
Regulatory Commission, instead of fixed power tariffs.
With the aim of importing power, Power Grid Company of Bangladesh has set up a USD 107 million power substation at Bheramara in Kushtia, and a power transmission line
worth USD 15 million.
Under the present agreement, Bangladesh will have to spend around Tk. 0.50 more — Tk. 0.04 in commission to the Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd, a subsidiary of the NTPC, Tk.
0.20 in wheeling charges to the Power Grid Corporation of India, and Tk. 0.23 in wheeling charges to the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh — for feeding each unit of
imported power to the national grid.
-With The Independent input
