First seabed power cable in Bangladesh for trial operation
Two 33-kilovolt submarine cables connecting Sitakunda Upazila to Sandwip in Chittagong have begun trial operation, and people living on Sandwip Island in Chittagong District will receive electricity from the State Grid for the first time on Thursday, according to the Bangladesh Power Development Commission (BPDB).
Saiful Islam Chowdhury, director of BPDB, said the two submarine cables in the Bay of Bengal were Bangladesh's first domestic submarine cable project, costing about 1.45 billion Taka.
The project was approved by the government on September 10, 2014 as part of an effort to improve the distribution system in Chittagong. The total cost of the distribution system plan is 10 billion 990 million Taka.
In September 2017, BPDB carried out the project with China enterprise Zhongtian science and technology cooperation. The company started construction in December last year.
Saiful said that the power supply is expected to transmit up to 3MW of power from Sandwip next week.
Earlier, BPDB had said it would send 10MW power to 10000 islanders every December. The maximum 50MW power will be transmitted through the submarine cable, each cable can transmit 30MW and will run for 50 years.
According to the 2011 census of Bangladesh, there are 278605 people on the island.
Saiful said that the operation of submarine cables would help island residents improve their living conditions and obtain electricity from the State Grid, believing that "the overall economy will be better because of electricity supply".