Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), in its order dated June 16, 2022, has granted interstate transmission licence to Khavda-Bhuj Transmission Ltd (KBTL).
The grant of transmission licence follows from the fact that KBTL has fulfilled the customary conditions as envisaged in CERC’s previous order (dated April 29, 2022) when the in-principal approval for the transmission licence was granted.
In its current order, CERC observed that no objections were received to the public notice issued by KBTL on around May 13, 2022. Objections/suggestions, if any, were to be filed with CERC by May 20, 2022.
Besides, KBTL, in compliance with CERC’s order of April 29, 2022, has also filed an affidavit to the effect that that project execution shall not be delayed due to time taken in obtaining statutory clearances as envisaged in the request for proposal (RfP).
The project specific vehicle Khavda-Bhuj Transmission Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Transmission Ltd. KBTL clinched the project officially termed as “Transmission scheme for evacuation of 3 GW renewable energy injection at Khavda Pooling Station (PS) under Phase-1”.
It may be noted that bid process coordinator REC Power Development & Consultancy Ltd is in the process of seeking developers for an extension project “Transmission scheme for evacuation of 4.5 GW renewable energy injection at Khavda Pooling Station (PS) under Phase-II.” This project is being developed under four sub-projects denoted as Part A, B, C and D, each to be developed by a separate transmission service provider.
KBTL won the project under the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) mechanism by quoting the winning levelized tariff of Rs.100.033 crore per year.
Accordingly, Adani Transmission Ltd acquired KBTL (originally a wholly owned subsidiary of bid process coordinator PFC Consulting Ltd) on January 18, 2022.
The Gujarat-centric project, envisaged for completion within 24 months, entails the development of several project elements, mainly the 3×1500 MVA 765/400 kV Khavda PS GIS substation and a 765kV double-circuit transmission line from the aforesaid substation to the Bhuj Pooling Station.
Also read: CERC Approves Longer Duration Contracts On IEX
At the final stage (post e-reverse auction), there were three bidders in the race of which Adani Transmission, with a annual tariff quote of Rs.100.033 crore, was declared winner. The other two were Power Grid Corporation of India (Rs.100.284 crore) and Torrent Power (Rs.104.151 crore).
The long term transmission customer (LTTC) of the project is Adani Renewable Energy Holding Four Ltd with whom the transmission service agreement (TSA) was signed on August 19, 2021 and become effective from January 18, 2022.
Featured photograph for representation only
