The Indian government has approved nine power transmission projects worth Rs 12,518 crore (about $2.08 billion) in states of Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, as part of its efforts to speed up building of high capacity inter-state transmission lines, according to an official statement. Approvals for these projects were pending for several months.
The government has invited participation from bidders, including private sector firms, for all the nine projects, which will be developed through tariff-based competitive bidding process.
"These transmission projects will benefit several states such as Haryana, Chhattisgarh, UP, MP, Maharashtra, etc, by enabling high capacity 765 kv lines carrying up to 2,100 MW each apart from construction of new 765/400kv substations,” it added.
The new transmission lines will also reduce congestion in Haryana by strengthening the Northern Transmission system.
These power transmission projects will help evacuating power from power stations like NTPC’s 660 MW Sipat project in Chhattisgarh and its 1600 MW unit in Gadarwara in Madhya Pradesh, apart from private sector generating stations such as Sasan UMPP (1320 MW).
Of these projects, ‘Transmission system associated with Gadarwara STPS (2x800 MW) of NTPC (Part-A)’ entails the largest investment of Rs 2,525 crore, followed by ‘Additional System Strengthening for Sipat STPS’ with Rs 2,473 crore investment and ‘Transmission system associated with Gadarwara STPS (2x800 MW) of NTPC (Part-B)’ with Rs 2,360 crore investment.
The approval for these projects will help taking the total capacity to over 66,000 MW by 2017, by adding total inter-regional transmission capacity of about 28,000 MW over the next three years, the statement said.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)