Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has granted transmission licence to “Powergrid Khavda IV-E2 Power Transmission Ltd” for its ISTS project involving RE evacuation from Khavda in Gujarat.
In very recent orders, CERC has granted transmission licence to Powergrid Khavda IV-E2; the regulator has also adopted the transmission tariff.
Powergrid Khavda IV-E2 Power Transmission Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) that is developing an interstate transmission system (ISTS) scheme called “Transmission system for evacuation of power from potential RE zone in Khavda area of Gujarat under Phase-IV (7 GW) Part E2.”
PGCIL won this project under the TBCB modality by quoting levelized annual transmission charge (tariff) of Rs.989.90 million, getting the better of two other contenders – Sterlite Power and Adani Energy Solutions Ltd (AESL).
The formal transfer of project SPV from bid process coordinator REC Power Development & Consultancy Ltd (RECPDCL) took place on May 30, 2024. The project SPV, when incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of RECPDCL, was known as “Khavda IV-E2 Power Transmission Ltd.”
The project, currently under execution is scheduled to commission in 21 months from the date of SPV transfer, which works out to around end-February 2026. The project cost has been estimated by National Committee on Transmission (NCT) at around Rs.679 crore.
Khavda IV-E2 largely involves augmentation of transformation capacity at the KPS1 (GIS) and KPS2 (GIS) substations in Gujarat, by addition of 2×1500 MVA, 765/400kV interconnecting transformers (ICT), at each of the two pooling stations. [KPS = Khavda Pooling Station]
PGCIL’s first win in FY25
Khavda IV-E2 represents the first ISTS-TBCB win for PGCIL in FY25. What has followed is a string of successes yielding 14 more wins for PGCIL, up to November 19, 2024. The latest ISTS-TBCB win for PGCIL is Khavda V-A Power Transmission Ltd – India’s first TBCB project involving HVDC technology. This is also the biggest ISTS-TBCB scheme till date, in terms of project outlay and transmission tariff. (Read more)
Khavda Phase-IV (7 GW)
In its entirety, Khavda Phase-IV involves setting up of transmission infrastructure for evacuation of 7 GW from renewable energy zones in Khavda region of Gujarat. The overall project is divided into eight components out of which five will use the TBCB modality, whilst deploying RTM (regulated tariff mechanism) for the remaining three.
The TBCB components are denoted as Part A, Part B, Part C, Part D and Part E2, while the RTM ones are Part E1, Part E3 and Part E4.
With the recent formal award of Part D (housed under Pune-III Transmission Ltd) to Adani Energy Solutions Ltd, all the TBCB components of Khavda-Phase IV have now been formally transferred to successful developers. Of the five TBCB components, PGCIL and AESL have won two each, while Sterlite Power has clinched one.
Featured photograph is for representation only
