PUCSL welcomes Indo-Lanka subsea power cable

By Chathuri Dissanayake 

Sri Lanka’s power regulator yesterday welcomed a possible move to lay an undersea power cable connecting India and Sri Lanka, which it believes will give the country access to a larger energy market and purchase electricity at lower prices, with discussions between the two parties on the revised proposal likely to take place later this month. 

The proposal to establish a submarine power cable line for 500 MW of power, which is under discussion between the two countries, will give Sri Lanka an opportunity to buy electricity at a cheaper rate, connecting the island to other South Asian countries as well. 

“India is connected to Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Bhutan so this would give us access to energy generated in those countries as well. India will soon have connectivity to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan – countries with a high power generation capacity, so this connection will link Sri Lanka to those countries in the future. At present only Sri Lanka and Maldives are not connected,” Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) Director General Damitha Kumarasinghe told Daily FT. 

According to him the cable connection will give Sri Lanka the opportunity to buy power at a competitive price from the market and will enable the country to enter into long-term contracts with power generators in different countries. The connectivity will also enable power to be sold to different countries as well.

“We will be able to import power at cheaper rates during peak hours if our generation proves to be costlier, further we can export all our excess energy during off-peak hours when we have a low load,” he explained. 

Previous attempts had been bottlenecked by parties that were concerned that Sri Lanka may become dependent on India by giving the regional giant greater influence in the island, but such concerns were dismissed by Kumarasinghe, who pointed out that such links already existed in Europe, the United States and the Indian subcontinent without causing any issues between countries. 

“There has not been an issue over sovereignty or any other political issue,” he highlighted. 

“This is connecting to a market like any other. We will be buying energy at competitive prices.” 

However, Kumarasighe was not able to comment on whether this would ease the looming energy crisis as no timeline for construction had been drawn up yet. 

Indian national publication The Hindu Business Line yesterday said that the Indian Government was reconsidering the project. 

The project was not deemed feasible earlier as its estimated cost was $ 554 million. However, a revision of the line route for the submarine cable line was estimated at $ 372 million. The proposal for the revised route has been given to Indian officials for evaluation, Power and Renewable Energy Ministry Development Director Sulakshana Perera said. 

The original proposal was to lay a 120-km-long submarine cable however the revision proposes an overhead line 50 km in length, making the project feasible, he explained.

“The ministry is in agreement with establishing a subsea power cable for 500 MW, but we have to evaluate the feasibility of the option. Discussions with Indian ministry officials regarding the revised proposal will be held later this month,” he added.