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

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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

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World Bank Live

Hello everyone! Please submit your questions and comments now, using the chat feature. We look forward to interacting with you LIVE on January 31th!
Fri, 01/21/2022 - 16:52
Shahzada

We need upgrade our hydro electricity power from 01 megawatts to 05 megawatts in Chitral KPk so we need funding for this
Thu, 01/27/2022 - 14:56
Pradip kumar

I like progress
Thu, 01/27/2022 - 19:04
MAZHAR MARWAT

It is a best projects
Thu, 01/27/2022 - 19:05
Julie Vorman

Welcome to the event page for the next #OneSouthAsia Conversation! Please post your questions and comments here before our Monday event. I'll share them with the event speakers and the World Bank's energy specialists.
Thu, 01/27/2022 - 19:09

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