The National Committee on Transmission (NCT), in its latest meeting held this month, has recommended six interstate transmission system (ISTS) schemes, with an envisaged project outlay of nearly Rs.10,000 crore, to be implemented under the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) mechanism.
The broad details of the six schemes are:
#1
Scheme: Transmission system for supply of power to green hydrogen/ammonia manufacturing potential in Kandla area of Gujarat (Phase-I: 3 GW)
Location: Gujarat
Estimated outlay: Rs.2,775 crore
BPC: PFCCL
Implementation period: 36 months
#2
Scheme: Augmentation of transformation capacity at Banaskantha (Ranghanesda) PS (GIS)
Estimated outlay: Rs.172 crore
Location: Rajasthan
BPC: RECPDCL
Implementation period: 24 months
#3
Scheme: Augmentation of transformation capacity at KPS1 (GIS) and KPS2 (GIS) (Phase-V Part B1 and Part B2 scheme)
Location: Gujarat
Estimated outlay: Rs.466 crore
BPC: RECPDCL
Implementation period: 24 months
#4
Scheme: Transmission system for evacuation of power from Rajasthan REZ Phase-V (Part 1: 4 GW) [Sirohi/Nagaur] Complex
Location: Rajasthan
Estimated outlay: Rs.5,028 crore
BPC: RECPDCL
Implementation period: 24 months
#5
Scheme: Augmentation at Fatehgarh-II PS, Fatehgarh-IV PS (Section-II) and Barmer-I PS
Location: Rajasthan
Estimated outlay: Rs.404 crore
BPC: PFCCL
Implementation period: 24 months
#6
Scheme: North-Eastern Region Expansion Scheme – XXV Part-A (NERES-XXV Part-A)
Estimated outlay: Rs.825 crore
Location: Assam
BPC: PFCCL
Implementation period: 36 months
Of the six schemes above, three (#1, #4 and #6) have an estimated cost of over Rs.500 crore and will hence need final approval from the Union power ministry. For the remaining three schemes, the NCT approval is final. The aggregate outlay of the six schemes is around Rs.9,670 crore.
Some of the aforementioned schemes, like the Kandla green hydrogen scheme, the Rajasthan REZ Phase-V scheme and NERES-XXV have been discussed in earlier stories by T&D India, when the schemes were under deliberation.
It may also be mentioned that bid process coordinator PFCCL recently initiated the process of appointing technical consultants for the Kandla green hydrogen and the NERES-XXV scheme.
RTM projects
The NCT has also recommended two ISTS projects to be implemented by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) under the regulated tariff mechanism (RTM). The larger of the two projects is officially termed as “Augmentation of transformation capacity by 2×500 MVA (9th & 10th), 400/220kV ICTs at Tumkur (Pavagada) 400/220kV PS in Karnataka and Implementation of 1 Nos. of 220kV line bay at Tumkur (Pavagada) 400/220kV PS for providing connectivity to RE generation project” and is estimated to cost Rs.118 crore.
The second project is a very small component of the NERES-XXV scheme, called “NERES-XXV (Part B).” As discussed above, Part A of the scheme will be implemented under the TBCB route. Estimated to cost Rs.8.18 crore and with completion aligned to that of Part A, this component involves conversion of existing fixed line reactors to switchable line reactors, along with implementation of NGR (neutral grounding reactors) bypass arrangement.
Overall bidding status
It was informed at the NCT meeting that of early August 2024, the two bid process coordinator PFCCL and RECPDCL had a total of 45 ISTS-TBCB schemes under various stages of bidding.
De-notification of Chhatarpur SEZ scheme
NCT has recommended the de-notification of an ISTS-TBCB scheme housed under “Chhatarpur Transmission Ltd.” PFCCL, the bid process coordinator, had initiated bidding of this scheme termed as “Transmission system for evacuation of power from Chhatarpur SEZ (1,500 MW)” way back in December 2021. The bidding process prolonged for over two years as location of the proposed Chhatarpur solar energy zone (SEZ) in Madhya Pradesh was pending finalization. However, it is now learnt that the proposed solar park has been cancelled due to which NCT has recommended de-notification of the associated transmission scheme.
Also read: NCT refers five major ISTS-TBCB schemes to power ministry for approval
(Abbreviations used: BPC = Bid process coordinator; RECPDCL = REC Power Development & Consultancy Ltd; PFCCL = PFC Consulting Ltd; PS = Pooling station)
