Indo-Lanka grid connectivity: two countries agree on submarine cable

• Overhead transmission lines involves additional costs for maintenance  

By Kelum Bandara   

Sri Lanka and India have agreed on a submarine cable to connect the power grids instead is laying overhead transmission lines, a top official said.  

The official said the CEB and the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd finalized the technical report to be forwarded to the joint working group headed by the secretaries of the line ministries of the two countries to work out modalities for implementation of the grid connectivity project. 

The official who wished to remain anonymous said the CEB had a virtual discussion with the Indian authorities earlier this week and completed the technical report with the agreement on an undersea cable to connect the twos grids. He said overhead transmission lines involves additional costs for maintenance in the future. Also, he said there are difficulties involved in the construction of pylons mid-sea.   

The business modality is yet to be worked out for the execution of the project.