Regional Power Trade: Toward a Green, Clean and Energy-Secure South Asia
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Regional Power Trade: Toward a Green, Clean and Energy-Secure South Asia
South Asia has more than a quarter of the world’s off-the-grid population — roughly 255 million people (2016). The economic costs of power distortions is estimated at 4-7 % of the region’s GDP. Even as South Asia is improving access to electricity, demand for power is expected to double in this decade.
With a growing energy demand and increasing emphasis on sustainable energy, enhanced regional cooperation is critical to boost energy security and overall climate-resilience in South Asia. Cross-border cooperation and interconnected power grids can lower energy costs, improve reliability, and reduce carbon emissions at lower-cost, while increasing the share of and synergies among clean energy resources, particularly hydro, wind and solar.
The World Bank’s South Asia Regional Electricity Markets’ (SAREM) Program is progressively strengthening inter-country transmission connectivity, supporting energy markets, and better aligning legislative and regulatory frameworks to enable greater electricity trade across South Asia. Since 2015, with the WB support, countries have substantially increased cross-border power transmission — from 2.1 gigawatts (GW) to 6.4 GW — mainly driven by projects connecting India with Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. The Bank is supporting infrastructure development for electricity transmission and trade between Central Asia- South Asia, to better utilize hydro and thermal generation in the region.
The South Asia Roadmap for the World Bank’s Climate Change Action Plan (2021-25) emphasizes regional cooperation to decarbonize energy production, and regional markets to optimize power resources and scale the role of renewable energy in cleaner energy trade. These efforts dovetail with the recent Green Grids Initiative-One Sun One World One Grid launched on the sidelines of the COP26, to connect energy grids across borders and facilitate a faster transition to renewable energy use.
Our 9th #OneSouthAsia Conversation on Regional Power Trade: Toward a Green, Clean, and Energy-Secure South Asia will bring together leading voices from the region to explore collaborative pathways for developing sustainable, accessible, and reliable power systems in the region and the challenges it incurs.
Use the following timestamps to navigate different sections of the video.
00:00 Welcome and introductions
02:41 Ensuring energy-security and clean energy transition in South Asia
08:53 Expansion of energy systems in Nepal and scope of regional energy trade
21:06 Role of India in regional power trade and opportunities of renewable
25:25 Regional energy trade in Bhutan. The potential of hydropower energy
30:34 Role of private sector in ensuring energy resilience in Bangladesh
36:45 The future of energy market: Drivers for more integrated markets in South Asia
40:24 Regional energy trade: High investments in hydropower and associated risks
44:48 Challenges for private sector and role of public-private partnership
52:44 Experiences from other regions on efficient markets
1:01:10 Combining hydro and solar projects: Exploring new markets
1:05:15 Vision for greater regional energy trade: Setting up a regional energy grid
1:12:37 Role of renewables and decarbonizing economies in energy trade
1:17:00 Aspirational changes in regional energy trade
1:21:46 Summarizing and closing remarks
“Since 2015, with the World Bank support, the cross-border power transmission capacity increased threefold — from 2.1 gigawatts to 6.4 gigawatts — mainly driven by projects connecting India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. The World Bank is also supporting infrastructure for electricity transmission and trade between Central Asia-South Asia, to better utilize hydro and thermal generation resources."
— Hartwig Schafer, Vice President, South Asia Region, World Bank
"There is a need for a common understanding and political will among South Asian countries of regional energy trade. We also need commercial rules to govern this market as well as technical rules to enable reliable operations and cross-border investments. There has never been a better time to act than now."
— Cecile Fruman, Director, Regional Integration and Engagement, South Asia, World Bank
“Investments in hydropower are very important to Bhutan. We are looking to our bilateral trade with India, and also looking to expand to regional trade with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and anyone else who is looking to purchase power.”
— Chhewang Rinzin, Managing Director, Druk Green Power Corporation Ltd, Bhutan
“There is a market for renewables in South Asia. Hydropower can be bundled with solar power, and round-the-clock power. This will bring the cost of electricity down in the future. Demand for power is increasing and there is a need to meet renewables targets for each country."
— Kulman Ghising, Managing Director, Nepal Electricity Authority
"Energy transition is not a single-country approach, we are past that. The next era should look into cross-border energy exchanges, which are a little bit more complicated because they involve borders, diplomacy, and geographies."
— Mahua Acharya, Chief Executive, Convergence Energy Services Ltd, India
“Bangladesh has a goal of reducing emissions between 7 to 15% and adding 1 to 4 gigawatts of renewable power by 2030. We believe that cross-border trade will be instrumental in achieving those goals because of the relatively greater renewable resource which exists in the neighboring countries.”
— Nicholas Padgalskas, Chief Financial Officer, Summit Power International, Bangladesh
Speakers
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Managing Director, Druk Green Power Corporation Limited, Bhutan
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Moderator
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LEARN MORE
WB Report | How Much Could South Asia Benefit from Regional Electricity Cooperation and Trade?
WB Report | Potential and Prospects for Regional Energy Trade in the South Asia Region
Blog | Energy transition in South Asia is critical to reaching global net-zero
Roadmap | The South Asia Roadmap for the World Bank’s Climate Change Action Plan
Series | #OneSouthAsia Conversations
Website | World Bank & South Asia
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