Bangladesh starts power import from India

Bangladesh has started importing power from India for the first time on experimental basis by adding 50MW to the national grid.

The import started at around 10:45am at Kushtia’s Bheramara sub-station.

Manager of the project, Md Alamgir Hossain said 50MW from India will be added to the national grid on experimental basis until Sept 30. It will be increased later.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will go to Bheramara on Oct 5 and her Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh will formally inaugurate the power export to Bangladesh via video conference from Delhi.

Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) is the coordinator of the import process. Its Managing Director Chowdhury Alamgir Hossain said by the end of October around 250MW of power will be imported.

Another 250MW is expected to be imported from India’s private sector by November.

Each unit will not cost more than Tk 6 as per the agreement, Power Development Board (PDB) member Tomal Chakrabarty told bdnews24.com.

Around 98 kilometres of conduction line had been set up since Aug 30 in the neighbouring country to facilitate the export-import process.

Two switching stations have been set up at Bangladesh’s Bheramara and India’s Bahrampur for power transmission.

Bangladesh is importing the power under a memorandum of understanding signed during Hasina’s 2010 Delhi visit.

Officials believe power outages would come down to some extent once 500MW is added to the national grid.