India’s total interregional transfer capacity is projected to grow to 1,42,940 MW, or around 143 GW, by end of FY27.
According to the recently released National Electricity Plan – Vol 2 (Transmission), addition of 24200 MW is expected to the total interregional (IR) transfer capacity during the three-year period FY25 to FY27.
This will take the total IR capacity to 1,42,940 MW by March 31, 2027 (end of FY27) from 1,18,740 MW, as of March 31, 2024 (end of FY24).
Bulk of this IR capacity addition will take place in West-North IR corridor where addition of 16,800 MW is envisaged. The remaining capacity will be towards enhancing the West-South (5,800 MW) and East-West (1,600 MW) corridors.
Out of the 24,200 MW planned for addition in the FY25-FY27 period, the report states that 7,400 MW is currently under construction while another 8,400 MW is under bidding. The remaining 8,400 MW is in planning stage and is likely to taken up for bidding/construction during the current fiscal year, FY25.
Some of the interregional links currently under construction and expected to commission by end-FY27 include:
- 400kV Jeypore-Jagadalpur D/C line [1600 MW, East-West]
- LILO of 400kV Narendra – Narendra (New) at Xeldam in Goa [1600 MW, West-South]
- 765kV Narendra – Pune D/C line [4200 MW, West-South]
There are several other interregional links that are currently under planning/bidding stage and which are likely to commission by end-FY27. Prominent ones are: 765kV Beawar – Mandsaur D/C line, 765kV Rishabdeo – Mandsaur D/C line, 765kV Sirohi – Mandsaur D/C line and 765kV Sasan – Prayagraj D/C line. Incidentally, each of these four lines has a capacity of 4,200 MW and lies on the West-North interregional corridor.
The report observes that the summation of the transmission capacities of IR links is a figurative representation of the transmission capacity between the regions. These aggregate numbers do not indicate actual power transfer capability across different regions/states. The power transfer capability between two points in a grid depends upon a number of factors such as power flow pattern, voltage stability, angular stability, loop flows, line loading limits etc. Hence, the actual power transfer capacity between two regions may be less than the summation of the transmission capacity of constituent IR links. The system operator would have to assess the transfer capability between two points of the grid from time to time, the report says.
HVDC links
In an earlier analysis by T&D India, it was found that HVDC links currently account for around 32 per cent of the total quantum of interregional transfer. This is in terms of the actual quantum of electricity transfer, and not the transfer capacity. In the context of HVDC links, the NEP notes that the interregional transmission capacity in one direction may not be same as the inter-regional transmission capacity in other direction. For instance, the maximum capacity of Raigarh (WR) – Pugalur (SR) HVDC link is 6,000 MW in WR-SR direction whereas the capacity in reverse direction (SR-WR) is limited to only 3,000 MW. Similarly, the Champa (WR) – Kurukshetra (NR) HVDC link cannot be operated in reverse direction at present.
Latest status
According to the latest statistics released by Central Electricity Authority, India’s total interregional transfer capacity, as of September 30, 2024, was 1,18,740 MW, unchanged from its level on March 31, 2024. This implies that the 24,200 MW of IR capacity addition targeted for the three-year period from FY25 to FY27 actually needs to be achieved in two and a half years.
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