Sri Lanka-India power transfer project feasibility
report soon:
$450-m submarine cable link to connect Madurai and A’pura
The feasibility study for the proposed $450-million mega undersea
power transmission link between India and Sri Lanka is slated to be
ready shortly.
The 200-km submarine cable would enable India to export electricity
to Sri Lanka and is likely to be set up with a capacity to wheel around
1,000 MW of electricity, sources said.
The report on the HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) link between the
two countries is being prepared by State-owned transmission major Power
Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL), which had earlier estimated that
it can set up the link in around 40 months once all clearances are in
place, officials said. The link is likely to connect Madurai in Tamil
Nadu and Anuradhapura.
While a joint Steering Committee has been set up to oversee the
project, a task force comprising representatives of the Power Ministry,
Central Electricity Authority and PGCIL on the Indian side and the Sri
Lankan Energy Ministry and Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) on the other,
has been firmed up to study the feasibility report and make
recommendations to the Committee.
Officials said Indian utilities could get higher tariffs from
electricity supplies to the country.
Initially, surplus power would be transmitted from India to Sri Lanka
using the link. With NTPC Ltd, already working on a 500-MW coal fired
plant in Trincomalee, wheeling power from Sri Lanka to India could also
be a possibility over the long term, they said. The Hindu Business Line
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