Power import from India begins today (Friday) with about 50mw electricity added in the national power grid line of Bangladesh.
Gradually a total of 175mw will be added to the national grid by September 30,which is described as test transmission. The commercial electricity supply will start from the first of next month. The government has already signed a power-purchase agreement (PPA) to import 250MW of electricity under public sector from India.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate power import from India formally on October 5.
Bangladesh will import additional 250 MW of electricity from the Indian open market the rate of which would be Tk 7 per unit.
The total amount of electricity, which is to be imported under a 35-year contract, will help improve the country’s power situation, which is now being tackled through costly but short-term rental power plants, Additional Power Secretary Taposh Kumar Roy told The New Nation on Thursday evening.
The tariff along with the transmission wheeling charge of the power imported will be between a little less than Tk 6 and Tk 6.35 per kilowatt-hour or unit, PDB sources said.
The rate is cheaper than that of the rental power plants which ranges between Tk 7.5 and Tk 22 per unit, but higher than that of the large local gas fired power plants that is between Tk 2.5 and Tk 4.8 per unit, PDB sources said.
One hundred and twenty five kilometre transmission line has been constructed between Bahrampur of India and Bheramara in Bangladesh for the power import from India. Of this line, 40km falls inside Bangladesh while the rest in India. The transmission system, which is based on 400 kV alternate current (AC) and 230 kV AC, have been proposed to be synchronised through installation of a back-to-back high voltage direct current (HVDC) link.
The line will have an initial transfer capacity of 500 MW, which will be later upgraded to 1,000 MW. The Asian Development Bank assisted Bangladesh in building the infrastructure. The deal is the culmination of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries in January 2010 during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New Delhi.
-With The New Nation input
