Bangladesh has made a formal proposal to its neighbor countries of Bhutan and India looking to take advantage of its location to connect power grids. The proposal is under the umbrella of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) regional cooperation program. At a SAARC meeting in March member states agreed to connect power grids to trade electricity in order to keep up with ever increasing electricity demands and shortfalls. There are at current only three SAARC member countries which have grids connected to each other (India, Nepal, and Bhutan). The potential for hydro electric power in India and Bhutan remains huge, however Bhutan with its conservation minded and eco friendly government may not be too receptive to the idea of numerous large scale plants.
India in the meantime is having an increasingly difficult time keeping up with the power needs of its population. While the share of hydro power in India has increased from 25,7 to 26 percent, this no where near the figure that some officials would like to see. With increasing prices for natural resources such as coal and oil, the majority of which India must import, there will surely be a keen focus to take advantage of the unexploited potential of hydro power. India has a highly educated population and advanced nuclear program which may also play a part in how power generation changes moving forward. In 2003 an initiative was launched to increase hydro power to 50,000 MW by 2017, thereby increasing the share to 40 percent of total power generation. Considering that the nation could be facing a 70,000 MW power shortage in the immediate future all options remain on the table, with a keen focus on clean renewable energy.
