Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has referred the matter relating to the DGEN transmission scheme to Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).
DGEN Transmission Company Ltd, the selected developer that won the DGEN transmission scheme in Gujarat under the tariff-based competitive bidding route, had sought to exit the project. In a meeting with Central Electricity Authority in mid-April this year, the developer sought exit from the project citing financial difficulties of its parent organization.
In a communicated dated June 14, 2017, Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has now referred the matter to Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).
DGEN Transmission Company is a subsidiary of Spanish company S.A. and had won the rights to develop the said transmission scheme in March 2015. Meanwhile, an email query sent by T&D India to Instalaciones Abensa, seeking information on the current status of the project, remained unanswered.
Instalaciones Abensa is the only foreign company to have emerged successful in interregional transmission schemes in the TBCB regime. It is pertinent to note that Chinese companies have also submitted bids for such projects but none of them have emerged successful so far.
The transmission scheme, costing Rs.275 crore, envisages a 400kV double-circuit line from the 1,200-mw DGEN gas-based power plant of Torrent Power at Dahej up to Vadodara, and another 220kV double circuit line from Navsari (the site of a power substation of Power Grid Corporation of India) to Bhesatan. The scheme forms part of the Western Region System Strengthening Scheme.
The preliminary work on the project took off swiftly—detailed survey was completed, engineering design was completed and manufacturing of transmission towers also started. The detailed survey was completed and the EPC contract was also awarded. Work slowed down sometime last year prompting CEA to serve a notice to the developer in August 2016, to which the developer did not respond. The developer’s submission to exit from the project surfaced in a meeting with CEA in April this year. The project is to commission by May 2018, as per the original schedule.
Despite the slow progress on this transmission scheme, evacuation is already taking place from the DGEN power plant. Torrent Power, through its subsidiary Torrent Energy Ltd, has already constructed a 400kV double-circuit line from the DGEN power plant to the Navsari substation of PGCIL.
