Undersea power link to Sri Lanka planned [September 26 2008]

Plans are being given a final touch to put in place a mega undersea power transmission line between India and Sri Lanka that is likely to cost around $450 million. A feasibility study was now being conducted for the proposed undersea power transmission link between.Giving this information here, 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 for the same 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 in Sri Lanka's North Central Province.

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 the countries to exchange electricity for mutual benefit through optimisation of resources and economies of scale.