Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has granted interim transmission licence to Rajasthan IVB Power Transmission Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dineshchandra R. Agrawal Infracon Pvt Ltd (DRAIPL).
Rajasthan IVB Power Transmission Ltd is a project SPV that is developing an interstate transmission system (ISTS) scheme termed as “Transmission system for evacuation of power from Rajasthan REZ Ph-IV (Part 4: 3.5 GW): Part B”
DRAIPL won this project under the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) mechanism, marking the Ahmedabad-headquartered company’s entry in the power transmission development space. The project SPV was acquired from bid process coordinator REC Power Development & Consultancy Ltd (RECPDCL) on December 30, 2024.
In a recent order, CERC said that the company was eligible for interstate transmission licence and directed the company to file a public notice seeking suggestions/objections to the proposed transmission licence.
Rajasthan IVB Power Transmission is expected to submit before CERC objections/suggestions, if any, by April 20, 2025, and the matter will come up for next hearing on April 22, 2025.
The project
With an estimated cost of around Rs.6,400 crore (as estimated by NCT), the project involves putting up a new 765/400kV, 2×1500 MVA substation at Merta in Nagaur district of Rajasthan. To be known as “Merta-II” substation, this will have connectivity to other upcoming substations like Barmer-I Pooling Station, Beawar substation and the Dausa substation – all in Rajasthan.
These three substations are coming up through independent ISTS-TBCB schemes being developed by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) (developer of Barmer-I PS and Dausa), and Resonia Ltd (Beawar).
In all, the Rajasthan IVB project envisages 651 ckm of transmission lines (both 765kV and 400kV), along with 3,000 MVA of transformation capacity coming through the Merta-II substation.
Bidding process
DRAIPL won “Rajasthan IVB Power Transmission Ltd” by quoting winning tariff (annual transmission charges) of Rs.5,556.25 million, getting the better of three contenders — Adani Energy Solutions Ltd (AESL), PGCIL and Resonia (formerly Sterlite Grid32 Ltd/Sterlite Power). It is learnt that DRAIPL had bid very aggressively for this project. The company’s initial price bid itself – at Rs.6,219 million — was as much as 27 per cent lower than the L2 bidder. At the end of the e-reverse auction routine, DRAIPL revised its own initial bid by a further 10.6 per cent, clinching the project with a final tariff of Rs.5,556.25 million.
ISTS-TBCB in FY25
Rajasthan IVB Power Transmission Ltd was just one of the record 45 ISTS-TBCB schemes transferred to winning developers in FY25. As discussed in T&D India’s exclusive report, these 45 schemes were transferred to ten developers, including two new entrants – DRAIPL and Reliance Industries Ltd.
Also read: CERC approves transmission tariff of Khavda HVDC project
Featured photograph is for representation only
