2022

Bhutan looks forward to USAID SAREP’s continued support with South Asia’s Power Market Integration

USAID’s SAREP organized a week-long India-Bhutan Utility Executive Exchange visit to India on Cross-Border Electricity Trade and Technology Enablement from December 18-23, 2022. SAREP hosted representatives from Bhutan’s key power sector institutions under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Royal Government of Bhutan including Druk Green Power Corporation, Bhutan Electricity Authority, Bhutan Power System Operator, Bhutan Power Corporation, and the Department of Energy.

Aimed at providing Bhutan’s power sector representatives with best practice experience and exposure to policies and regulations, power markets, electricity trading, energy accounting, system operations, and operations technologies from Indian utilities, SAREP organized industry visits on days 1 to 4 of the exchange program. The participants visited the Eastern Regional Power Committee (ERPC) office, the Eastern Region Load Despatch Centre (ERLDC), and CESC in Kolkata, and Tata Power- Delhi Distribution Limited (TP-DDL), the Grid Controller of India’s National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC) in New Delhi, and the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) Office, in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

The final day commenced with a workshop. Resource speakers from BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) and Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) shared their industry insights and key regulatory updates on open access, deviation settlement mechanism and ancillary services with the Bhutanese and Indian participants. Also, Bhutanese participants interacted with senior officials from Central Electricity Authority (CEA), CERC, IEX, NHPC and Tata Power on the issues relating to cross border power trade and power markets.

During the closing ceremony, SAREP Deputy Chief of Party for Trade and Investments Namrata Mukherjee reiterated the context of the executive exchange program. “As 2022 winds down, SAREP, in discussion with Bhutan power stakeholders, felt it would be an insightful exercise if we could provide more practical exposure to Bhutanese utilities on topics of cross-border power trade, technology implementation practices, power exchange, and power markets.”

Druk Green Power Corporation (DGPC) Managing Director Dasho Chhewang Rinzin expressed his gratitude and excitement for the continued partnership with SAREP. “Bhutan has gained the confidence to handle DSM through participation in the Indian power exchange and looks forward to USAID SAREP’s continued assistance and support in its journey towards further power market integration in the South Asia region.”