Indian officials held a meeting here Friday to evolve the strategy to supply 100 MW of power from Tripura to Bangladesh, an official said.
"Today's (Friday) meeting studied the various aspects of supplying 100 MW of power to Bangladesh. The meeting was held in view of the constitution of a four-member joint study committee by Bangladesh and Indian governments last month," an official of the Tripura State Electricity Corporation told reporters.
The joint study committee was formed following the meetings of joint steering committee and joint working group on the power sector held in Dhaka April 2-3. P.K. Sinha, India's power ministry secretary, and Monowar Islam, Bangladesh's power ministry secretary, led their teams in these meetings.
The official said: "The joint study committee would submit its detailed report to their respective governments within three months."
Officials and engineers of Central Electricity Authority, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL), North East Regional Power Committee, ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC) and Tripura State Electricity Corporation were present in the meeting.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar earlier said: "We have already told the Indian government that Tripura is ready to supply at least 100 MW of electricity to Bangladesh. The central government can now take necessary steps to supply power to the neighbouring country."
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He said: "To supply power from Tripura to Bangladesh, only a nine-km transmission line is required to be erected from (western Tripura's bordering village) Rabindranagar to connect with that country's electricity network."
"During my visit to Dhaka in 2012, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her desire to import power from our state."
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.
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is commissioning its biggest ever commercial power project (726 MW) at Palatana in southern Tripura (60 km south of Agartala) while the state-run North East Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) is setting up a 104 MW power project at Monarchak in western Tripura (70 km south of Agartala) and eight km from the India-Bangladesh border.
The power generation from the first unit (363 MW) of the Rs.9,000-crore Palatana power plant began December 2013 and the second unit (363 MW) expected to start generation later this year.
The Palatana project is a hallmark of cooperation between India and Bangladesh, which ensured the smooth passage of heavy project equipments and turbines to Palatana through its territory by road and waterways from Haldia port in West Bengal.
Meanwhile, India had commenced supply of 250 MW 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 Feb 28, 2012 to supply 250 MW of electricity, following an agreement signed during Hasina's visit to New Delhi in January 2010.
To provide power to Bangladesh, 400 kV switching station has been set up at Baharampur in West Bengal by loop-in-loop out of the existing 400 kV Farakka-Jeerat transmission line. The cross-border inter-connection has been established between Baharampur (India) and Bheramara (Bangladesh).