India is still waiting for a response from Islamabad to start work on the much-talked about Amritsar-Lahore power transmission link that would help the power-starved neighbour draw up to 500 MW of electricity from the Indian grid.
Power ministry officials, who early this year went to Pakistan to explore the possibility of this link, said that they had given their proposal to the government of Punjab province and are awaiting a response before moving forward.
The Indian side has proposed an asynchronous ?buffer? HVDC (high-voltage direct current) back-to-back link between Amritsar and Lahore that can be used to wheel about 500 MW of power from India to Pakistan. Once approved, the project could take up to three years to build. It would be built by Power Grid Corporation.
?The Pakistan side is not in favour of the HVDC line and wants a direct link to Lahore that could be used to trade power with India. We feel that a buffer HVDC line would be in our interest as it would prevent grid disturbances on either side of the border from impacting respective lines in both the countries. Besides, this would also prevent islanding of a portion of Lahore from its grid to receive power from India,? said the power ministry official quoted earlier.
The buffer HVDC set up is a time-consuming process which Pakistan wants to avoid as it is badly in need to augment its power shortages. The country is facing severe problems in meeting its local demand for power as the sector there is largely dependent on oil and gas as fuel sources, the prices of which have risen sharply in the international markets, forcing state utilities to default on payment to generators.
The electricity generation in Pakistan (installed capacity of about 24,000 MW) has shrunk by up to 50% in recent years due to an over-reliance on fossil fuels. It currently faces shortages to the tune of 5,000-6,000 MW.
The possibilities on a transmission link between the two countries looked bright with the coming of the Nawaz Sharif government in Pakistan. In fact, during an earlier visit of an expert group from India to Punjab province in Pakistan to discuss the transmission link, the members also met the power minister of the neighbouring country, who also took interest in the project.
The project is feasible as it requires least investment with transmission lines in both the countries falling closer to the international border. Also the investment on developing infrastructure would be minimum. ?We have not worked out the investment as Pakistan is still to come to us taking forward the process,? the official said.
Pakistan is looking for larger cooperation with India in the sphere of energy. It has also sought cooperation from Tata Power to help develop large coal-based plants on the lines of the company?s
4,000-MW Mundra ultra-mega power project and help it revamp the sector dependent on imported oil and gas. A delegation, led by Punjab Power Development Company CEO Syed Farrukh Ali, visited India?s first fully-commissioned UMPP in the Gujarat port city early this year. The team also sought direct participation by Tata Power in an imported coal-based project there.