Anisul Islam Noor :
Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) can import electricity from any power generation company of India as the country (India) keeps this option in their modified cross border power trade policy.
Besides, BPDB will also get opportunity to import electricity from Nepal and Bhutan through India as per the new policy.
“India is developing a cross-border trade policy that will allow Bangladesh to have access to electricity from any Indian company, that is a major development in our cooperation with that country,” State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid told The New Nation yesterday.
He added, a possibility of participation in regional gas pipeline link between Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) and China-Myanmar-India (CMI) has been created in the light of the cross border power trade policy of India.
As part of increasing energy cooperation, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will import a consignment of 2,200 tonnes diesel from India’s Numaligarh refinery of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) through rail route next month, he said.
The BPC would receive this diesel consignment having 0.035 percent sulfur content at Parbatipur of Bangladesh, sources said.
Regional electricity trade can help save the country over $9 billion annually, while regional carbon emissions would go down by 8 percent,
said Syed Munir Khasru, Chairman of the Institute for Policy, Advocacy, and Governance (IPAG).
He was presenting a paper at the opening ceremony of a programme titled, “Power & Energy in South Asia: Connectivity through Cooperation” at the Radisson Blu Hotel in recently.
The IPAG, a think-tank based in Dhaka working on prospect of energy connectivity in the south Asian countries.
Electricity coverage in South Asia ranges from a low of 40 percent to a high of 90 percent with most countries relying on one predominant form of energy while leaving other resources untapped, the paper said.
Mashiur Rahman, Economic Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister, told the programme that there was mismatch between geographical locations of countries and locations of resources. “But this mismatch can be overcome.”
He said policymakers should choose projects that can give quick benefits, allowing people to see the gains of cooperation.
The realization of the full potential of cooperation was contingent on joint management of resources, taking into account the geographical realities, especially basin-wide management of the common rivers, energy and electricity, especially hydropower, he said.
Mashiur Rahman cited that movement from Bangladesh to Bhutan and Nepal, across a small patch of India, crosses multiple borders.
India has an ambitious plan to lay 6900 km gas pipelines connecting Sitwe (Myanmar), Chittagong (Bangladesh), most North-Eastern states, Siliguri and Durgapur, sources said.
According to the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), dependence on a single source limits solution to meeting energy demand poses a significant risk to energy security. Furthermore, the region’s economic growth is also hindered and the supply-demand gap for electricity is exacerbated.
Naoyuki Yoshino, dean of the ADBI, called for more investment in harnessing renewable energy potential in the region.
He gave examples of Japan where individual funds helped set up one solar system project and revive a 100-year old hydropower project.
Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) can import electricity from any power generation company of India as the country (India) keeps this option in their modified cross border power trade policy.
Besides, BPDB will also get opportunity to import electricity from Nepal and Bhutan through India as per the new policy.
“India is developing a cross-border trade policy that will allow Bangladesh to have access to electricity from any Indian company, that is a major development in our cooperation with that country,” State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid told The New Nation yesterday.
He added, a possibility of participation in regional gas pipeline link between Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) and China-Myanmar-India (CMI) has been created in the light of the cross border power trade policy of India.
As part of increasing energy cooperation, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will import a consignment of 2,200 tonnes diesel from India’s Numaligarh refinery of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) through rail route next month, he said.
The BPC would receive this diesel consignment having 0.035 percent sulfur content at Parbatipur of Bangladesh, sources said.
Regional electricity trade can help save the country over $9 billion annually, while regional carbon emissions would go down by 8 percent,
said Syed Munir Khasru, Chairman of the Institute for Policy, Advocacy, and Governance (IPAG).
He was presenting a paper at the opening ceremony of a programme titled, “Power & Energy in South Asia: Connectivity through Cooperation” at the Radisson Blu Hotel in recently.
The IPAG, a think-tank based in Dhaka working on prospect of energy connectivity in the south Asian countries.
Electricity coverage in South Asia ranges from a low of 40 percent to a high of 90 percent with most countries relying on one predominant form of energy while leaving other resources untapped, the paper said.
Mashiur Rahman, Economic Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister, told the programme that there was mismatch between geographical locations of countries and locations of resources. “But this mismatch can be overcome.”
He said policymakers should choose projects that can give quick benefits, allowing people to see the gains of cooperation.
The realization of the full potential of cooperation was contingent on joint management of resources, taking into account the geographical realities, especially basin-wide management of the common rivers, energy and electricity, especially hydropower, he said.
Mashiur Rahman cited that movement from Bangladesh to Bhutan and Nepal, across a small patch of India, crosses multiple borders.
India has an ambitious plan to lay 6900 km gas pipelines connecting Sitwe (Myanmar), Chittagong (Bangladesh), most North-Eastern states, Siliguri and Durgapur, sources said.
According to the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), dependence on a single source limits solution to meeting energy demand poses a significant risk to energy security. Furthermore, the region’s economic growth is also hindered and the supply-demand gap for electricity is exacerbated.
Naoyuki Yoshino, dean of the ADBI, called for more investment in harnessing renewable energy potential in the region.
He gave examples of Japan where individual funds helped set up one solar system project and revive a 100-year old hydropower project.
