# Introduction

outh Asia has undergone a growing lopsidedness between energy demand and its supply from indigenous sources resulting in increased import dependence. No South Asian country is going to be able to meet its energy needs entirely from its own domestic resources. Energy demands is growing at rate of over 6% a year which is far in excess of the region's capacity to meet [2]. Moreover, about 1.5 billion people and half of the regions are out of electricity [4]. There are a lot of natural resources of the region but distributed spatially which has created a need for regional cooperation of cross-border energy exchange especially in electricity. Power grid interconnection can be a matured option to meet energy demand which can be also a best catalyst for the development of the region. By this interconnection one country will be able to export its surplus electricity to another electricity deficient country so that both will be beneficiary. To fulfill the goal firstly a brief scenario of energy resources of the region has been depicted. In the latter part, the energy ring between the south Asian countries to solve the power scarcity has been discussed. Finally some interconnection between South Asian countries has been proposed and also depicted graphically with congruous elucidation.

Author : Chittagong University of Engineering & Technology (CUET), Bangladesh.


# II.


# Energy Resources In South Asian Region

South Asian region has a great potentiality in energy resources. For the scattered position a huge portion of the resources is still unused. But if the resources are used to generate power and share that by the same power grid then the region will be beneficiary in its social and economical development and overall to uplift the living standard of the citizens. India has a great challenge to meet it's proliferate energy demands. On the other hand Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka face acute power shortages [3]. The region is rich in other sources of energy which are unevenly distributed and untapped. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have large reserves of gas and coal [2]. Nepal and Bhutan has a great potential of hydro-electric power [2]. To exploit the regional resources an initiative took in 2006 by launching South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Energy Center in Islamabad [3] [2]. The objective of that is to facilitate and promote energy trading connecting India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan to minimize the acute power shortage faced by them. Nepal and Bhutan generate 40,000 megawatts (MW) of hydro-electricity which can be exported to other SAARC countries through common grid stations [2]. India has already grid interconnections with Nepal and Bhutan [2]. If the others are connected with that grid then all will get benefits of cross-border electricity exchange and trade among the regional states, leading to optimal utilization of regional resources for electricity generation. 


# IV. PROPOSED BANGLADESH INDIA POWER GRID INTERCONNECTION

The Bangladesh economy has grown at about 6% per annum but providing electricity to less than 50% of the population [14]. The country's peak power demand is deficit and nearly 1,500 MW [14]. Moreover, about 90% power is generated by the natural gas which is the cardinal resource of the country [14]. In this backdrop an initiative has been taken to interconnect Bangladesh India power grid. This grid will establish 125 km. 400 kV double circuit cross-border link between the Bheramara of western electrical grid of Bangladesh and the Baharampur of eastern electrical grid of India [1] [7]. There will be a 400 kV switching station at Baharampur (India) and a 500 MW back to back high voltage direct current (HVDC) sub-station (400/230 kV) at Bheramara (Bangladesh) [1] [7]. The system will facilitate an initial power flow of 500MW into Bangladesh from the Indian grid with a provision to enhance the power flow to 1,000 MW.  


# VII. INDIA AND SRI LANKA PROPOSED POWER GRID INTERCONNECTION

A HVDC Grid Interconnection is a proposed to link the national grids of India and Sri Lanka. The grid will be connected from Madurai in southern India to Anuradhapura in central Sri Lanka, through the Palk Strait [7][10]. The link will be 285 kilometers in length and is proposed to exchange about 500 MW power [7][10]. Fig. 5 : Proposed India and Sri Lanka power grid interconnection [7]. 


# VIII. BANGLADESH, BHUTAN, INDIA AND NEPAL PROPOSED POWER GRID INTERCONNECTION

There is a mismatch between energy demand growth and energy resource endowments in the South Asian region. Relatively smaller economies like Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar has lots of hydropower and hydrocarbon resources which can supply to others energy demanding countries like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Energy exports can make significant contribution to the GDP growth of lower economies and enhance energy security to the growing economics. For instance Bhutan's electricity export in financial year 2007 is expected to constitute nearly 25 percent of its GDP and 60 percent of its state revenues [11]. India and Pakistan are two geographic clusters centered on the south Asia which can serve as pillars of regional integration of power system. In the Eastern zone Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka can work together to share power from the same grid.   


# CONCLUSION

The overall energy need for South Asia is prophesied to be three fold that of today within the next 15 to 20 years. Energy trade and power grid interconnection in the region can be a best reliable solution to meet up the energy deficit, sustain security and resilience of the networks. Furthermore, Reliable energy supply can act as a catalyst to alleviate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth. The benefits of grid interconnection include pooling of generation, resulting in lower generation costs; pooling of load, for significant equalizing effects; common provisioning of reserves, resulting in cheaper primary and secondary reserve power costs; and mutual assistance in the event of disturbances. This paper's aims to provide a comprehensive, objective portrait of the South Asian electric grid, focused research and demonstration, the challenges and opportunities it is likely to face over the next decade and sharing of important data can facilitate meeting the challenges and seizing the opportunities that the grid will face. 
1![Fig.1: South Asian countries energy export import potentialities[5].](image-2.png "Fig. 1 :")
2![Fig.2: Proposed Bangladesh and India power grid interconnection[7].](image-3.png "Fig. 2 :")
34![Fig. 3 : India and Bhutan power grid interconnection [7]. VI. NEPAL INDIA POWER GRID INTERCONNECTION The power exchange agreement between India and Nepal came into operation in 1971. In recent years, the volume of energy exchange between these two countries has increased from 50MW to 150 MW [8][10]. The 'Transmission line Interconnection' project between India and Nepal has three major components namely Dhalkebar-Mujaffarpur, Duhabi-Purnia and Butwal-Gorakhpur, each having a capacity of 400kv. Among them, the first phase construction of Dhalkebar-Mujaffarpur 400kv transmission interconnection is underway. The total length of the transmission line from Dhalkebar to Muaffarpur is 140 km. Only 45 km of this transmission line lies within Nepalese territory. The total length of Duhabi-Purniya line is 112 km of which 22 km lies within Nepalese territory. Similarly, 25 km of the 125 km Butwal-Gorakhapur transmission line lies within Nepal [8][10][13].](image-4.png "Fig. 3 :Fig. 4 :")
6![Fig. 6 : Single line diagram of India and Sri Lanka proposed power grid interconnection [10].](image-5.png "Fig. 6 :")
![Latterly the India has bilateral electricity trade with Bhutan. Bangladesh, Nepal and Srilanka can join to this trade with India and Bhutan power grid. On the other hand in the Western zone Afghanistan, Pakistan and India can join in the same grid and import low cost power from the Central Asia by using their natural resources. Under the USAID sponsored SARI-E program Nexant during 2001-2002 conducted a study which suggested connecting Siliguri (India) to Anarmani (Nepal) and Thakurgaon (Bangladesh) initially by 132 kV lines, capable of being upgraded to 220 kV as the volume of interchange increases [13]. It also suggested the alternative of connecting Purnea (India) to Duhabi (Nepal) and Ishurdi (Bangladesh) [13]. Connections from Chhukha (Bhutan) to Siliguri and then on to Purnea which already exist. Journals Inc. (US)](image-6.png "")
7![Fig. 7 : Power system overview of different South Asian countries (2010) [13][14].](image-7.png "Fig. 7 :")
8![Fig. 8 : Suggested interconnection between Bhutan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal. [11][12].](image-8.png "Fig. 8 :")
1[6][7][8][9][10]CountriesCoalOil (MillionGasHydro(MillionBarrels)(TCF)(MW)Tones)Bangladesh884128330Bhutan20030000India90085570039150000NepalNA0042000Pakistan175503243345000Sri LankaNA15002000Total108521618680269330III. SOUTH ASIAN ENERGY RING TO SOLVE THEENERGY CRISIS
		
		
			

				


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