India - Lanka Undersea power link planned

*Project likely to cost around $450 m

*Power Grid doing feasibility study

Plans are under way to put in place a mega-undersea power transmission line between India and Sri Lanka is likely to cost around $450 million. A feasibility study has been conducted for the proposed undersea power transmission link.

Indian Minister of State for Power, Jairam Ramesh, said the 285 km submarine link would enable India to export electricity to Sri Lanka and would have a capacity to wheel around 1,000 MW of electricity initially.

The feasibility study was being done by the State-owned Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL). The link is likely to connect Madurai in Tamil Nadu and Anuradhapura.

A joint steering committee had been set up to oversee the project. A task force comprising representatives of the Union 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.

Ramesh said the study would facilitate estimation of capital cost based on route survey, benefits and would also examine the techno-economic feasibility of the interconnection. The proposed interconnection is expected to enable both countries to exchange electricity for mutual benefit through optimisation of resources and economies of scale.

Ramesh said the PGCIL study was being closely studied by the committee and a final view is to be taken. The Sri Lankan Government on July 25, gave its approval to the trans-national power link. Power Grid is executing projects to bring electricity from Nepal and Bhutan. It is also looking at developing two transmission lines to Myanmar, but is waiting for the Government’s approval, Ramesh added.