India has finally connected the southern power grid with the rest of the country, achieving its goal of creating an efficient national grid to ensure unhindered electricity flow.

The union power ministry said in a statement that the southern grid had been synchronously interconnected with the rest of the national power grid on Tuesday evening.

Confirming the development, the ministry said, "The central transmission utility, Power Grid, has successfully commissioned the Raichur-Solapur 765-KV single-circuit transmission line on Tuesday evening, interconnecting the southern grid synchronously with the rest of the national power grid."

The ministry said that the move would facilitate bulk transfer of electricity across regional boundaries. It also boasted that the goal of `One Nation - One Grid - One Frequency' had successfully been accomplished.

The national grid will be of a great help for southern states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, which have long been suffering huge power shortages, as these states will now be able to receive surplus power from other states. So far, these states were forced to pay exorbitantly high prices for purchasing electricity from the open market due to uncertainty about power evacuation because of congestion in the transmission network.

The Pan-India synchronous grid will help in ensuring optimal utilization of the electricity generation resources in the country.