Synopsis: Access to reliable, affordable and clean energy is a high priority to support rapid economic growth and improved welfare of more than 1.6 billion population of the Bay of Bengal region. With the rapidly rising demand across all the countries of the BIMSTEC region, there are huge opportunities for optimization of energy resources through interconnected power system in the region.

Synopsis: Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe), under the The USAID SARI/EI program organized a “South Asian Electricity Regulators’ Exchange: Towards Institutionalizing a Regional Energy Regulators’ Forum” on 16th and 17th December in Delhi, comprising Chairpersons, members and senior delegates from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Synopsis: The South Asian Region (SAR) has significant amount of complementaries in the areas of energy resources, demand and supply variaon throughout the day, weekends, weekdays and seasons. Moreover, there will also be opportunies of generaon cost opmizaon even when there is no actual deficiency of power.

Synopsis: Countries in the South Asia region, some of the poorest in the world, have low levels of per capita electricity consumpon. In 2012, it was 119 kWh in Nepal (WDI, 2015), when only 76.3 per cent of its populaon had access to electricity. In India, per capita electricity consumpon in 2013–14 was 957 kWh with about 21.3per cent of its populaon without access to electricity in 2012.

Synopsis: Globally, 1.3 billion people are without access to electricity, of which around 338 million are in South Asia. Energy poverty is one of the key reasons for the lack of economic development and low gross domesc product (GDP) in South Asia.

Synopsis: Grid code is a technical document containing rules, procedures, guidelines, criteria and responsibilies to be complied by the users, owners and operators of the transmission system of a country. Grid codes are approved by a regulatory body in exercise of powers conferred to it under the relevant electricity act/legislaon.

Synopsis: Non‐discriminatory OA in simple refers to the possibility of any enty, be it a buyer or seller of electricity, to connect to and make use of the transmission and/or distribuon system on the payment of cost‐reflecve service charges. This is subject to system availability and network constraints, regardless of the ownership of power system.

Synopsis: Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe) is the implementing partner of the South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy Integration (SARI/EI) programme supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Synopsis: SLYCAN Trust wishes to thank our partners United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe) for their valuable contribution to the research.

Synopsis: We are pleased to present the report, ‘Economic Benefits of Bangladesh–India Electricity Trade’, carried out under the South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy Integration (SARI/EI) project supported by USAID.

Synopsis: On the Nepal side, we thank our partners IIDS, Nepal, and Dr. Bishnu Dev Pant, Executive Director IIDS and Mr. Pramod Rijal, Economist, IIDS, in particular for the administrative and logistical support in organising the two stakeholder Workshops.

Synopsis: We thank members of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) for their support in assessing the Nepal power system model (IRADe Nepal Technology model- INTec) results and for validating the model assumptions for appropriately reflecting the features of Nepal’s power system in a bilateral India-Nepal study.

Synopsis: Reliable power supply and access to energy are critical for economic development of any nation. Sustained poverty reduction is possible through electricity as it supports industrialization, especially through small and medium-sized enterprises.

Synopsis: We are happy to present these proceedings of the regional conference on “Enhancing Energy Cooperation and Integration in South Asia”. IRADe achieved a major six-year milestone of successful completion of the stage-1 of the fourth phase of SARI/EI.

Synopsis: A regional energy market creation in the South Asia region is a key development challenge towards advancing energy integration.

Synopsis: The objective of the TF-2 on Advancement of Transmission Systems Interconnection activity shall be to create the enabling conditions for a sustainable market for investment and implementation of regional bilateral transmission interconnections in South Asia (SA) Region.

Synopsis: The key objective of TF-1 is harmonization of policy, legal and Regulatory Issues for fair allocation of costs and risks in order to create the enabling systemic conditions for a sustainable market for investment and implementation of Cross Border Energy Trade (CBET) projects.

Synopsis: Without a consistent and coherent regional regulatory framework in place, investment opportunities and, consequently, large-scale CBET between nations that could benefit both importing and exporting nations may not happen. In the South Asian regional context, the risks associated with forging an intra-regional, CBET project would be greatly minimized if each participating country adopts complementary regulatory frameworks to facilitate cross-border interconnection and electricity trade. The SAARC Inter-Governmental Framework Agreement (IGFA) also calls for the need for institutional mechanisms for the coordination of regulations for promoting CBET in the South Asia (SA) region.This paper brings out the above by analyzing the international experiences in power market development and CBET from a) Greater Mekong Region (GMS) b) South African Power Pool (SAPP) c) West African Power Pool (WAPP) d) The Central American Electrical Interconnection System (SIEPAC) e) Nordic Pool and the critical success factors for effective CBET and learnings for South Asian countries from international experiences. The report also highlights the various key drivers of CBET in SA and the current policy, legal, and regulatory frameworks in the region. I hope this paper will be able to initiate further thought-provoking discussions among regulators and power sector stakeholders to take forward the process of coordination of policy and regulation for promoting CBET.

Synopsis: Cross Border Electricity Trade (CBET) in South Asia is currently being undertaken in the form of bilateral trade and is limited between India-Nepal; India-Bangladesh; and India-Bhutan. The SACs envisages a manifold increase in the quantum of Cross Border Electricity Trade (CBET) by the end of next decade.There is a need to have Common/Coordinated set of Regulations, Policies and Legal Framework which addresses the mechanism of interconnection, recognizes the CBET, Open access to transmission Network, licensing, dispute resolution, etc. The above necessitate establishment of Regional Regulatory Guidelines (RRGs) in the form of common regulations, rules and protocols in technical, operational and legal matters for promoting CBET in the South Asian Region. This report focuses only on the Regional Regulatory Guidelines (RRGs). The RRGs aims to 1) establish transparent regulatory environment to promote CBET 2) to provide a common course of action that can be referred for decision making on CBET by the electricity/energy Regulators in their respective countries 3) to ensure consistency in the transactions and remove delays on account of unclear and complicated regulatory regimes applicable to such transactions.i

Synopsis: Over the last two decades, South Asia (SA) has been one of the fastest growing regions in the world, with an average annual GDP growth rate of six percent. The region has a variety of energy resources with major potential for hydropower. This potential offers a huge scope for tapping clean energy and meeting South Asia’s energy needs. Yet, despite the potential and the macroeconomic growth in this region, the power sector has not been able to keep pace with the demand. The region continues to experience problems of shortage of electricity supply and its quality. Crossborder transmission interconnections and trading transactions are taking place to a limited extent. The systematic deployment of huge energy resource potential, especially hydropower, along with an investment in infrastructure build-up and a market-based trade system, can help harness untapped sources of clean energy. The paper aims to initiate thought-provoking discussions among power sector stakeholders and provide a platform for investors, developers, financial institutions, MDBs, and high-level officials from the South Asian countries to engage in a dialogue on challenges and investment opportunities in South Asia’s power sector and to enhance Cross-Border Electricity Trade (CBET).

Synopsis: Energy remains one of the key inputs to socio-economic progress in developing societies. South Asian nations, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, have so far lagged far behind their developed counterparts in terms of access to clean, reliable, and affordable energy, especially electricity. The existing power shortages and growing import of fossil fuels impose a heavy cost of energy insecurity to the region. The energy endowments of South Asia are limited and dispersed across the region, with large unexploited hydro-electric potential in some parts and growing dependence on fossil fuels in other parts. The South Asia region is going through a phase of economic transformation from low growth to high growth. It is well established that energy demand and growth are interlinked with each other; therefore energy demand in this region is going to increase substantially to keep its growth story intact. Cross-border electricity trade could emerge as a strong viable long-term solution to increase the supply of energy in the region. South Asia’s electricity security is one of the steps critical to regional stability.

Synopsis: Over the last two decades, South Asia (SA) has been one of the fastest growing regions in the world, with an average annual GDP growth rate of six percent. The region has a variety of energy resources with major potential for hydro power. This potential offers a huge scope for tapping clean energy an meeting the region’s energy needs. Yet despite the potential and the macroeconomic growth in this region, the power sector has not been able to keep pace with the demand

Synopsis: IRADe, the implementing partner of USAID for the Program of South Asia Regional initiative for Energy integration (SARI/EI) organised the South Asia Regional Inaugural Conference of SARI/EI on Cross Border Electricity Trade(CBET) at New Delhi on 4th and 5th Oct’2013.