A cabinet committee has approved the decision to procure electricity from the Indian open market.
As a result, the Power Development Board can now purchase 30-50MW of electricity from India for a period of one year via a trading agent, and address a portion of domestic power shortage. The additional power could be added to the grid as early as this year.
The decision was made in a meeting of the cabinet committee on public purchase. Finance Minister AMA Muhith chaired the meet.
Power in India is traded in an open market through a mechanism analogous to the stock market. Hence the price fluctuates every 15 minutes on average.
The PDB has already called for proposals regarding the appointment of the trading agent. The agent’s commission has been fixed at Tk49 per 1,000 units of power.
Since October 2013, the country has imported 500MW of electricity from India through grid inter-connectivity between Bheramara in Bangladesh and Baharampur in India. The import comes after Dhaka and New Delhi signed an MoU in this regard during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Delhi in January 2010.
Bangladesh got 250MW of electricity through the NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN) and the remaining 250MW from the Power Trading Company India Ltd (PTC).
A PDB official, seeking anonymity, said we have been receiving around 50MW of electricity less due to auxiliary consumption at the generating sub-station, and losses during transmission.
On April 3, 2014, to address this supply gap, a decision was made at the seventh meeting of the joint steering committee of Bangladesh-India power sector cooperation at the capital’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel to buy power from open markets in India.
At the meeting, India agreed to provide an additional 30-50MW of electricity to Bangladesh through the Bheramara sub-station.
The PDB then called for proposals from interested trading agencies.
Experts say this project is a good option for Bangladesh in the short term.
Dr Ijaz Hossain of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) said: “This decision should be implemented in the short term on a test basis. After 12 months, it will be clear if this is profitable for us. Then we could consider this new mode as a long-term option.
