By IANS
New Delhi : With the future of the proposed tri-nation gas pipeline uncertain due to political and economic factors, India and Iran are exploring co-production and transmission of power through an underwater cable.
The two countries are actively engaged in discussions on the joint production of power and the modus operandi for its transmission, an official source said.
Officials of the two countries plan to carry out a feasibility study of the proposal.
Iranian ambassador to India Sayed Mehdi Nabizadeh told a seminar here last week that the two countries were exploring opportunities in the power sector.
The idea of cooperation in this sector was first proposed by former power minister P.M. Sayeed, but languished after his death two years ago. It was revived and discussed during the visit of Iranian Power Minister Parviz Fattah to India early this year.
“India can think of power trade with Iran to urgently meet its growing energy demand,” says A.B. Mahapatra, an expert who heads the Centre for Asian Strategic Studies (CASS-India), a think tank specialising in Central Asia.
Iran is already exporting power to nine countries and at least half a dozen agreements are being worked out with its neighbours to export power.
Iran exports power to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Central Asian Republics, even Russia, Iraq and Turkey. Iran is also exporting power to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Laying a high voltage direct current (HVDC) line from Iran to India could be one way of getting Iranian power to India. Alternatively, power can be drawn from existing Iranian power networks to Bandar Abbas and under sea it can travel to Kandla in Gujarat, India.
The power production and trading between India and Iran will obviate some of the security problems associated with the $7-billion Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project as the Pakistani territory need not be involved in this arrangement.
But it is not clear how the US, which has fiercely opposed the tri-nation pipeline due to its policy of isolating Iran suspected of developing a secret nuclear weapon programme, will react to a power production and sharing arrangement between India and Iran.