In a recent meeting, the National Committee on Transmission (NCT) has approved an interstate transmission system (ISTS) scheme, aiming to augment capacity at the upcoming Bhadla-III pooling station in Rajasthan.
The scheme officially termed as “Additional transmission system for evacuation of power from Bhadla-III PS as part of Rajasthan REZ Phase-III scheme (20 GW)” has been cleared for implementation under the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) route.
REC Power Development & Consultancy Ltd (RECPDCL) has been named as the bid process coordinator for this scheme that has an estimated outlay of Rs.368.83 crore and a completion schedule of 18 months from the date of SPV transfer.
The project involves adding two interconnecting transformers (ICTs) of 400/220kV, 500 MVA to the upcoming Bhadla-III PS in Rajasthan. These will be the fourth and fifth ICTs at the pooling station. The project scope also includes setting up of a 220kV bus sectionalizer (1 set) along with one 220kV bus coupler bay and one 220kV transfer bus coupler bay at the Bhadla-III PS.
Project rationale
Connectivity application of about 7 GW has already been received at the Bhadla-III PS, out of which 6.5 GW has already been granted or approved for grant. Of this 6.5 GW, about 3 GW has been granted through EHVAC system that is scheduled to commission progressively from March 2025. The remaining 3.5 GW has been granted on the HVDC system that is foreseen to be commissioned from February 2028 onwards.
To fulfill these connectivity applications at Bhadla-III PS, a total of five ICTs have been envisaged. The new Bhadla-III PS with three ICTs is coming up through another ISTS-TBCB scheme housed under “Bhadla III Transmission Ltd” (now renamed to “Powergrid Bhadla III Transmission Ltd) that is being implemented by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL). The fourth and fifth ICTs will come up under the newly-approved project discussed in this story.
Overall objective
The newly-approved scheme is part of an overarching transmission system that aims to evacuate 20 GW of renewable energy from Rajasthan, primarily coming from three renewable energy zones – Fatehgarh (9.1 GW), Bhadla (8 GW) and Ramgarh (2.9 GW).
Current status of Bhadla-III project
It may be noted that the ISTS-TBCB scheme housed under “Powergrid Bhadla III Transmission Ltd” mentioned above is currently under implementation and is scheduled to commission by March 2025. Apart from the new Bhadla-III PS, the project scope entails a 765kV double-circuit line from Bhadla-III PS to Sikar-II PS, running 660 ckm.
Featured photograph is for representation only.
