Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) is scheduled to hear the transmission licence petition of Ishanagar Power Transmission Ltd on June 18, 2024.
In a recent order, CERC said that Ishanagar Power Transmission Ltd was eligible for grant of interstate transmission licence, subject to no adverse comments from the public to this effect. CERC directed the petitioner to file a public notice seeking comments on the matter, and file the same before CERC on or before June 16, 2024. Following this, CERC will conduct the next hearing on the matter on June 18, 2024.
Ishanagar Power Transmission Ltd (IPTL) is developing an interstate transmission system (ISTS) scheme termed as “Western Region Expansion Scheme XXXIII (WRES-XXXIII): Part C” under the BOOT model.
IPTL, a consortium of IndiGrid 2 Ltd (lead member) and IndiGrid 1 Ltd, was selected as the winner bidder under the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) mechanism, conducted by bid process coordinator REC Power Development & Consultancy Ltd (RECPDCL). Both IndiGrid 2 Ltd and IndiGrid 1 Ltd are subsidiaries of India Grid Trust (IndiGrid).
IPTL quoted the winning bid of Rs.625.88 million per year being the levelized transmission charges (tariff).
Incidentally, CERC, in a separate order, has also adopted and approved the aforementioned tariff, which is subject to grant of transmission licence discussed above.
Bidding process
As many as seven bidders submitted their initial price bids for the project out of which four were qualified to participate in the e-reverse auction. The initial bids ranged from Rs.702.50 million by IndiGrid (L1) to Rs.1,103.00 million by Megha Engineering & infrastructures Ltd (L7). Those making it to the e-RA included IndiGrid, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (L2), GR Infraprojects Ltd (L3) and Techno Electric & Engineering (L4).
At the end of the e-RA, IndiGrid emerged as the successful bidder with a quote of Rs.625.88 million, implying a 11 per cent reduction in its original bid. PGCIL was L2 with 627.45 million (just 0.25 per cent higher than the winning bid) , followed by GR Infraprojects (L3: Rs.661.43 million). Techno Electric did not participate in the e-RA.
Project outline
Estimated to cost around Rs.555 crore, the project housed under “Ishanagar Power Transmission Ltd” is scheduled to commission by February 2026. The project includes construction of two substations in Madhya Pradesh — a 765/400 kV substation of 2×1,500 MVA capacity and a 400/220kV substation of 2×500 MVA capacity — and a LILO single circuit 765kV double-circuit line of 18 km.
Greenfield ISTS projects of IndiGrid
According to information available with T&D India, IndiGrid is involved with four greenfield ISTS projects, won under the TBCB mode: Kallam Transmission Ltd (completed), Kallam Transco Ltd, Dhule Power Transmission Ltd and Ishanagar Power Transmission Ltd (all recently won and under development).
Also read: CERC Adopts Tariff For Solapur ISTS Project
Featured photograph (source: IndiGrid) relates to the ISTS project of Kallam Transmission Ltd, owned by IndiGrid.
