The “Committee of Directors on Investment on Projects” of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd, accorded investment approval to two RTM-based transmission schemes.
The said committee, which met on June 28, 2023, approved investment to two transmission schemes, officially termed as:
- Western Region Expansion Scheme – XXXIII (WRES-XXXIII) – Part A
- ICT Augmentation at Navsari (New) associated with integration of additional 7 GW RE power from Khavda RE park under Phase-III
Scheme #1 mentioned above will entail investment of Rs.115.09 crore and is scheduled to complete by August 15, 2024. Scheme #2, anticipated to cost Rs.109.47 crore, is envisaged to commission by October 22, 2025.
Both the schemes will be developed by PGCIL under the regulated tariff mechanism (RTM) route, as recommended by the National Committee on Transmission (NCT) in its meetings held during December 2022 and January 2023.
WRESS-XXXIII – Part A
According to information available with T&D India, “WRESS-XXXIII – Part A” aims to relieve high loadings on the interconnecting transformers (ICTs) at the Jabalpur pooling station (PS) in Madhya Pradesh.
According to a report by NCT, the Jabalpur ICTs are currently not “N-1” compliant. The scheme aims to create 220kV level at the 765/400kV Jabalpur PS. This will be achieved by installation of two 400/220kV, 500 MVA ICTs, and four ICT bays – two of 400kV and two of 220kV. The scheme will also have four 220kV bays at Jabalpur PS for LILO of the 220kV double-circuit Narsinghpur-Jabalpur transmission line.
It may be mentioned that in its entirety Western Region Expansion Scheme – XXXIII has other components –Part B and Part C – along with its subcomponents Part B1 and Part C1. It is reliably learnt that Part B (estimated cost: Rs.1,200 crore) and Part C (estimated cost: Rs.555 crore) will be implemented as intrastate transmission schemes under the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) mechanism, with Madhya Pradesh Power Transmission Company Ltd (MPPTCL) acting as the nodal agency.
Also read: PGCIL To Hive Off Consultancy Business Into New Subsidiary
ICT Augmentation at Navsari
This scheme has been planned to enable evacuation of additional 7 GW of RE power from Khavda RE Park in Gujarat. This scheme will involve augmentation of transformation capacity at the 765/400kV Navsari substation by addition of one 765/400kV, 1500 MVA ICT. The project scope also entails one 400kV ICT bay.
Featured photograph (source: MPPTCL) is for representation only
