INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
(Reuters) - India and Sri Lanka have resumed talks on linking their electricity grids, officials told Reuters on Tuesday, a step that could
prospect that power cuts brought by the crisis could be eased by the talks, which are a preliminary effort on a multi-year project both
sides have explored before.India has extended assistance running into billions of dollars to its southern neighbour to fight the crisis,
details.Protests and political turmoil brought on by rocketing inflation, a currency devaluation and shortages have spurred the nation of 22
million to begin talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan programme, also backed by India.Now officials of both countries
are turning to a project that has made little progress since it was first proposed more than a decade ago, aiming to link the neighbours
electricity is generated by oil and coal-fired plants, while hydro makes up the rest.Its total daily power demand is just a fraction of
condition of anonymity.Until now, India has provided aid amounting to about $1.9 billion through credit lines and swaps, and is ready to
commit up to $2 billion more to help Sri Lanka tackle its worst financial crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.The plan to link
the two grids has been in the works for years, with the neighbours signing a pact in 2010 on feasibility studies for an undersea power
cable.A study by the Power Grid Corporation of India envisaged deployment of either a 500-megawatt (MW) or a 1,000-MW undersea transmission
system, the state-run company said in an annual report in 2015.The shortest distance separating India and Sri Lanka is a narrow strip of
ocean called the Palk Strait, which is about 40 kilometres (24.85 miles) wide, though the length of an undersea cable would depend on its
alignment.Subsea electrical cables with long spans include the NordLink, between Germany and Norway, which is about 623 km (387 miles)
long.Source: Reuters--Agencies
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://adaderana.lk
