Union Power Minister Raj Kumar Singh, a former civil servantturned-politician, is driving the Government’s ambitious blueprint to achieve energy security – a critical cog in the wheel so to speak, if India has to achieve its ambitions of a 10-trillion economy in under a decade. The key element of this goal is linking our power gridswith those of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabiatowards the west and Singapore in the East. This connectivity will be through undersea cables.
“The India-UAE agreement is in the final stages. So, the Cabinet note has been circulated for the interconnection agreement. Then the detailed project report (DPR) will be prepared, and later, the project will be bid out. Then, there would be an interconnection with Saudi Arabia. That is also under consideration, and the Cabinet note is being circulated. Talks have also started with Singapore for direct interconnectivity between the two countries,” said Singh who was widely quoted in the media on this development.
OSOWOG initiative
This is a follow-up to the announcement made in early January by India and the UAE to conduct a feasibility study for linking their power grids via undersea cables as part of the One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG) initiative.
The Power Ministry has begun the process by initiating and circulating a Cabinet note on the subject to take forward the process of expanding access to reliable power sources and further consolidate the country’s energy security. This process, which is likely to play out by late summer, will see bilateral agreements with Saudi Arabia and UAE for these humongous projects which will then see global bidding before panning out for final implementation. Off course, the process of consultation and discussions will also include a detailed look at the viability of the model. According to industry estimates, the capital costs of such a project could be anywhere between $15 billion and $18 billion.
It is expected that this energy cooperation will be a key element of the discussions when the Saudi Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmanwill visit India in May. According to The Economic Times, ‘’the Saudi Ambassador to India has already extended invitations to leading conglomerates such as the Tata Group, Reliance Industries Ltd, JSW, Sterlite Power, and Adani among others for their views (but)the External Affairs Ministry, Tata, RIL and Adani didn’t respond to queries. JSW declined to comment.’’
Two-phase plan
What India is pursuing in the ambitious OSOWOG plan whose ultimate aim is to connect countries through a global power grid. According to reports, the draft framework for this global grid is in an advanced stage with the first phase focusing on the Middle East, South Asia, and South East Asia(MESASEA)sharing energy resourceslike solar for meeting electricity needs. In phase two,MESASEA grid hopes to link with the African nation power pools with the final objective being global interoperability.
“The OSOWOG initiative was conceived to ensure power supply from a country having a surplus of power produced through renewable sources to countries with a deficit in supply during a given point. It is a very important initiative as it would help countries to export clean energy beyond their local requirements,” the Mint newspaper said quoting AK Saxena, Senior Director for electricity and fuels at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
The UAE-Saudi project is not the first by the Power Ministry. A task force of the ministry has already looked at the possibility and practicality of interconnecting the regional grids of Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe for renewable energy sharing. As a first step in this direction, the country is already pursuing bilateral interconnectivity projects with Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Myanmar.
Other countries’ plans
Other countries are also pursuing their ambitions in this regard. Last year, Singapore and Australia signed an undersea power cable deal that will carry energy from a proposed giant solar farm in the Australian Northern Territory to Singapore by 2017. According to reports, “The project won major project status this week from the Australian federal government, which will help smooth the approval process for the $22 billion Australian-ASEAN Power Link using high voltage direct current (HVDC) technology.’’ Similarly, the UK and Norway already share both hydro and wind energy through an over 750-km undersea cable. And Greece is pursuing a project to link its electricity grid with that of Egypt.
