The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in cooperation with the Energy Market Group, U.S., is organizing a three-day training program on `Electricity Markets’ for the South Asia Region. The training program is designed to address such issues as competition, market power, transparency and governance. Customized for electricity sector workers from different regions of South Asia, the training program will also take up issues related to wholesale electricity trading, connecting market prices and power procurement costs with end-user tariffs, essential elements to efficient electricity market structure and design in the South Asian Region. The training program will help participants develop an understanding of the basic concepts related to electricity market design.

Under the South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy (SARI/Energy) Partnership Program, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), five members of the Sri Lanka Submarine Interconnection Steering Committee and Task Force traveled to Australia May 5 – 9, 2008 to examine the Basslink interconnection between Victoria and Tasmania states. The visit was conducted to facilitate the ongoing efforts of the Government of Sri Lanka on the implementation of the India –Sri Lanka electricity interconnection.

Under the South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy (SARI/Energy) Partnership Program, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), eleven executives from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka met in the U.S, April 21 – 30, 2008 to review the use and integration of renewable energy in the U.S. power sector.

NEW DELHI – The U.S. Agency for International Development’s South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy (SARI/E) program inaugurated its five-day seminar on “Global Energy Markets Trade” on 24th February 2008 at the Sheraton Hotel, New Delhi. Representatives from energy sectors in South Asian countries and the U.S. participated in one week program.