DHAKA: India has initiated the process to supply 100MW of electricity from Tripura to Bangladesh.

An Indian diplomat said on Tuesday, reports The Times of India.

“Several steps were taken about the Indian government’s commitment of supplying 100 MW of power to Bangladesh from southern Tripura’s Palatana power plant,” Indian deputy high commissioner in Dhaka Sandeep Chakravorty told reporters after meeting Tripura power minister Manik Dey.

He said, “The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) would erect a transmission line from western Tripura’s Surjyamaninagar power grid to Comilla (in Bangladesh) power grid to supply the power”.

He said that supplying power from Tripura to Bangladesh will be similar to the system between West Bengal’s Baharampur and Bheramara in Bangladesh.

India had commenced supply of 250MW of power to Bangladesh last year after the government-run Bangladesh Power Development Board and India’s NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN), a subsidiary of India’s National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), signed a deal February 28 in 2012 to supply 250MW of electricity, following an agreement signed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New Delhi in January 2010.

To provide power to Bangladesh, 400kV switching station has been set up at Baharampur in West Bengal. The cross-border inter-connection has been established between Baharampur (India) and Bheramara (Bangladesh).

A series of meetings were held since last year in New Delhi, Dhaka and Agartala to finalize the strategy to supply power to Bangladesh from Tripura’s Palatana power project.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has commissioned its biggest ever 726 MW capacity commercial power project at Palatana in southern Tripura, 60km south of Agartala.

The power generation from the first unit (363MW) of the Rs 9,000-crore Palatana power plant began December 2013 and the second unit (363MW) is expected to start generation by next month.

The Palatana project is a hallmark of cooperation between India and Bangladesh, which ensured the smooth passage of heavy project machineries and turbines to Palatana through its territory by road and waterways from Haldia port in West Bengal.

The state-owned North East Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) is setting up a 104MW power project at Monarchak in western Tripura, 70km south of Agartala, and just eight km from the India-Bangladesh border.

The project is likely to start generation of electricity within the next three-four months.

Tripura would be the second power surplus state in India within the next three-four months after Sikkim, once full generation started from the Palatana and Monarchak power plants, both gas based project.

Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar had earlier said that they have told the “Indian government that Tripura is ready to supply at least 100 MW of electricity to Bangladesh”.

He had said “To supply power from Tripura to Bangladesh, only a short distance transmission line is required to be erected from western Tripura to eastern Bangladesh to connect with that country’s electricity network”.

The chief minister said after the completion of commissioning of two mega gas based power projects this year, at least 200 MW power would be surplus in Tripura.

BDST: 1653 HRS, OCT 07, 2014