“We are yet to decide on the tariff for power purchase under the deals currently being discussed but we hope it would be favourable to us,” said C Choudhur . On a visit to the state, he told select reporters that Bangladesh faces a peak time power shortage of about 5-10% and would look for large power purchase deals as its energy requirement is expected to go up further in line with consumption and higher economic activity. The weighted average tariff of Bangladesh’s power purchase deals now works out to about 6.5 Taka.
Choudhury said the Bangladesh economy is growing at about 6% a year and would have greater appetite for sourcing energy from India. Already it is buying 500 MW from NTPC’s West Bengal plants. Once the final power purchase deals currently being negotiated are executed, Bangladesh would be buying 1100MW from India. For India, Bangladesh is a nearby ready market for the energy produced in the North Eastern region, which is geographically removed from the industrial hubs in the country.
Choudhury is in Tripura to participate in the dedication of ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC) at Palatana to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Bangladesh is exploring co-operation in the energy sector which also covers exploration of oil and gas and joint development of hydro-power with India.
OTPC, a joint venture among state run oil and gas explorer, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) and the Tripura government, has now a capacity of 726.6 MW and supplies power to the entire North Eastern region. The company seeks to provide energy to industrialisation efforts in the area as it would be unviable for ONGC to transport the gas it produces from this region to the markets in more industrial parts of the country.
Source: Financial Express
