A proposal for setting up a regional power grid is likely to be adopted at the 13th Saarc Summit to be held in the capital on November 12-13.

Sources in the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources said the proposal will be placed in line with the resolution of the recently held Saarc energy ministers' meeting in Islamabad.

The Islamabad meeting held on October 1 adopted a resolution calling for developing a regional power grid covering all the Saarc member countries except the Maldives as part of promoting regional energy co-operation.

The Saarc ministerial meeting decided to examine and conduct a study to determine the viability, economic benefits and cost of such a regional grid.

Besides, the Islamabad meeting also discussed the scope of regional co-operation in hydroelectric power and natural gas.

According to a study carried out by multilateral donor agency--the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the South Asian region has a hydroelectricity potential of between 70,000 and 80,000MW.

Of this, Nepal has a potential of 43,000 MW, Bhutan has 20,000 MW and the Indian State of Assam has 10,000 MW hydroelectricity potential.

But due to lack of proper initiative, this huge potential for energy cooperation remained untapped except a nominal bilateral electricity trade between India and Bhutan and India and Nepal.

Under the proposed regional power grid, all the electricity transmission systems of the Saarc member countries will be connected with each other's national grid to share the region's energy resources. The proposed grid will also create an opportunity to promote interregional electricity trade among the member nations.

“Its main benefit will be increased reliability and security in the power system of the Saarc countries,” said an official of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources of Bangladesh.

The proposed grid will link Pakistan's capital Islamabad with Agartala, the capital of the eastern Indian state of Tripura, covering Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The official said Bangladesh, however, favours an immediate commencement of regional grid connecting transmission network of four close-bordering countries--Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan.

He said only 40-km transmission line will be required to install among the four countries to initially take off the regional grid.

The energy ministers' meeting in Islamabad also recommended sharing of each other's experience and expertise in the power and energy sectors.

As a follow up, a regional workshop on rural electrification will be held during the Saarc summit in Dhaka.