TN FACE SEVERE POWERCUT! BUT CENTRAL GOVT PLANS EL TO SL!! WHY???

India to establish transmission link to Sri Lanka

The Indian Government yesterday said it plans to set up a transmission line under the sea to connect power distribution networks with Sri Lanka.

"A feasibility study is being proposed for establishing a transmission system of 1,000 MW capacity using overhead sub-marine cables between India and Sri Lanka," Minister of State for Power Jairam Ramesh said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

The system would have two High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) terminal stations at both sides of the link.

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 the countries to exchange electricity for mutual benefit through optimisation of resources and economy of scale.
Bureau Report
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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.
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Indo-Lanka power project to begin soon
1,000 MW to be added to national grid

A special Indian Government delegation will arrive here within the next fortnight to start work on the proposed Indo-Lanka underwater electricity transmission cable project.

A Power and Energy Ministry spokesman said the proposed 1,000 Mega Watt transmission cable from Madurai, India is built as a solution to Sri Lanka's current electricity crisis. The feasibility study of the project has already been completed.

The cable would be drawn upto Anuradhapura and connected to the national grid. The project estimated to cost US dollars 450 million is due to be completed in 2012.

The spokesman said Sri Lanka is expected to generate excess electricity with the completion of the on-going large scale power plant projects in 2015 and 2018. The same Indo-Lanka cable network would be utilised to transmit this excess to India then.

The visiting delegation would meet Power and Energy Minister W. D. J. Seneviratne and Energy sector specialists for detailed discussions on the project.

dailynews.lk
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