Launch of South Asia Distribution Utilities Network (DUN)

The South Asia Distribution Utilities Network (DUN) – a partnership initiative of USAID India and the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) Limited – was launched at the Ministry of Power, Government of India, on Monday, February 20 in the gracious presence of Sh. RK Singh, Hon’ble Cabinet Minister (Power, New & Renewable Energy), Government of India. He was joined by senior officials from USAID, the Ministry of Power, and from other power sector departments of South Asian counties, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

The DUN is a knowledge exchange platform for learning and sharing of South Asia’s reforms and adoption of advanced technologies and global best practices/case studies. It focuses on deepening collaboration among the region’s power distribution companies (DISCOMs) who are at various stages of reforms and development in the sector

Wishing the DUN a ‘very bright future’, Sh. RK Singh said “Energy security is a common mission for all partner countries in ensuring a better standard of living for their citizens. Distribution is at the heart of the power sector and DUN will enable us to learn from each other and make our distribution systems modern & smart”

“The platform will also leverage global experiences in the sector for collective good of South Asian utilities with the focus being on deepening collaboration with the intent of shortening learning curves,” Ravinder Singh Dhillon, CMD, PFC Ltd. said at the event. PFC Ltd. will be the nodal agency for the DUN secretariat and takes on the full responsibility here on to ensure this remains functional and sustainable in the long run.

At the launch, a ‘White Paper on Distribution Utilities Network’ was also released by the Hon’ble Minister. Emphasizing the existing power sector cooperation in South Asia, he said that all countries in the region, barring one, have been collaborating and working with each other in the sector. India has agreements on exchanges in power sector, joint working groups in power and energy, and is already connected to grid with Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal, while interconnection with Sri Lanka is in advanced stage of discussion.

Congratulating the team on the launch, Veena Reddy, Mission Director, USAID India, said that USAID is committed to working with all South Asian countries and the world to address climate-related challenges while also enhancing regional connectivity.

“As South Asia transitions to more clean, resilient and consumer-centric ecosystem, DUN will provide a common platform to regional power distribution utilities. USAID India is proud to partner with PFC in support of this shared goal,” she added.

In his special address, Alok Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India, said, “The DUN will fill a very important gap as there are many power sector associations, but we were lacking in distribution utilities – which are critical for health of whole power sector – coming together.”

From SAREP countries, the following power sector senior officials joined virtually – Mapa Pathirana, Secretary to the Ministry of Power, Sri Lanka; Ajwad Mustafa, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change & Technology, Maldives; Bikash Dewan, MD, Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd. (DPDC), Bangladesh; Sonam Tobjey, CEO, Bhutan Power Corporation (BPC), and Manoj Silwal, Deputy MD, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).

All countries emphasized the importance of the DUN network and how this will help foster country level cooperations and support for their respective countries’. They also elaborated the challenges faced by their respective countries, the initiatives they have taken towards addressing some of the challenges and how DUN can help improve utility modernization, systems operations and other knowledge sharing expectations.

From USAID India, Apurva Chaturvedi, Senior Clean Energy Specialist, was accompanied by members of the South Asia Regional Energy Partnership (SAREP) – USAID’s regional flagship energy program. The SAREP team included Dr Rakesh Kumar Goyal – Chief of Party; Sumedh Agarwal – Deputy Chief of Party; Farah Ahmed – Cross Cutting Lead; Ajay Rawat – Objective Lead, Modernizing Utilities; Bhumika Suri -Training and Events Specialist, and others.

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