Workshop on ‘Prospects of Clean Energy Transformation and Role of Coordinated Generation and Transmission Planning for Optimal and Sustainable Cross Border Energy Trade in South Asia’

Electricity has historically been an accelerator of material progress and well-being. However, this electricity needs to be clean, affordable, reliable, and accessible to all. This is all the more important in the context of South Asia, which is home to more than 20% of the world’s population and is faced by rising aspirations of its people on one hand and greater vulnerability to climate impacts on the other.

South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, together known as BBINS, are abundant in natural resources that can help in the creation of clean, renewable energy. While India and Sri Lanka are noted to have large solar and wind potential, Bhutan and Nepal have large potential for hydropower.

Cross Border Electricity Trade (CBET) can enable South Asian countries to add another dimension to their economic cooperation with each other. With the rise in renewable energy generation in BBINS, a regional resource development approach to explore complementarities is felt more acutely. This has also highlighted the need for a coordinated, complementary regional generation and transmission planning for optimal and sustainable CBET in South Asia.

In this background, the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), South Asia Group on Energy (SAGE)-RIS & USAID, through its South Asia Regional Energy Partnership (SAREP), jointly organized a workshop on ‘Prospects of Clean Energy Transformation and Role of Coordinated Generation and Transmission Planning for Optimal and Sustainable Cross Border Energy Trade in South Asia’ in New Delhi from June 18-19, 2023.

Senior officials of power and energy departments of BBINS countries, SAGE-RIS, and USAID India actively participated in the hybrid workshop. Apart from an inaugural and valedictory session, the workshop consisted of five working sessions, spread over June 18-19, 2023.

The inaugural session started with a welcome address by Professor Sachin Chaturvedi, Director General, RIS, while R V Shahi, Chairman, SAGE-RIS, set the context with his address on Clean Energy Transition in South Asia- Imperatives and Opportunities.

This was followed by special addresses by Karen Klimowski, Mission Director (Acting), USAID India; Karma Tshering, Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Royal Government of Bhutan; Alok Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India; Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, Secretary (Energy), Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation (MOEWRI), Government of Nepal; and Sugath Dharmakeerthi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of Sri Lanka.

John Smith-Sreen, Director, Indo-Pacific Office, USAID India, delivered the vote of thanks.

The two working sessions that followed discussed electricity generation and transmission planning, respectively, in the context of clean energy transition and advancing CBET in South Asia.

Working Session 1 was chaired by Mr Ghimire, with Ghanshyam Prasad, Chairperson, Central Electricity Authority (CEA), as co-chair. Working Session 2 was chaired by K. Sreekant, Chairman & Managing Director, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, with the co-chair Mohammad Hossain, Director General, Power Cell, Power Division, Ministry of Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources (MPEMR), Bangladesh, joining virtually.

The following day, Working Session 3, on the Need for Regional, Complementary approach to meet the clean energy transitions plans through Coordinated, Complementary Regional Electricity Generation and Transmission Planning, was chaired by Mr Dharmakeerthi.

In Working Session 4, V K Agrawal, Senior Advisor, SAREP, presented draft recommendations and way forward for “Accelerating the Clean Energy Transformation through Coordinated Generation and Transmission Planning for Optimal and Sustainable Cross Border Energy Trade in South Asia” before the gathering. The recommendations were based on the discussions and presentations through the event.

The valedictory session of the event was graced by an address by Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Chief Coordinator (G20) and Former Foreign Secretary, Government of India. He said that the Government of India places great emphasis on augmenting energy capacity, energy security, and developing new energy resources, of which an important part is to facilitate interconnectedness with India’s neighbours and to utilize regional resource sharing, while prioritizing energy security of the entire region.

In her vote of thanks, Monali Zeya-Hazra, Regional Energy Manager and Clean Energy Specialist, USAID India, said that the recommendations presented in the event would be presented to power secretaries in the region. She closed out by adding that USAID will be happy to present technical support wherever required.

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