Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) will complete the Eastern Region System Strengthening Scheme (ERSS)-XXI progressively in 38 months, the company said in a stock exchange filing.
On January 12, 2018, PGCIL took over ERSS XXI Transmission Ltd, the project special purpose vehicle from the bid process coordinator REC Transmission Projects Company Ltd (RECTPCL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd.
PGCIL, it may be recalled was declared as developer (successful bidder) for ERSS-XXI in Bihar, on October 17, 2017 when the company was handed over the letter of intent by RECTPCL.
The project was awarded using the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) mechanism. PGCIL will implement the scheme, with an estimated investment of Rs.1,320 crore, under the build, own, operate and maintain (BOOM) model.
PGCIL has so far won eleven projects under the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) mechanism, including ERSS-XXI.
The project aims at boosting the transmission infrastructure in Bihar in view of the estimated load demand of 11,000 mw in the northern state, by 2021-22. The transmission scheme involves the setting of two new 400/220/132kV substations in north Bihar—at Sitamarhi and Saharsa, and one similar substation at Chandauti in south Bihar. The two existing substations at Darbhanga and Motihari would also be extended. The 400/132kV Motihari substation with a current transformation capacity of 315 MVA is owned by Essel Infra and is part of the Darbanga-Motihari scheme that Essel is developing in Bihar. ERSS-XXI also involves setting up of two 400kV double-circuit lines—one from Darbhanga to Sitamarhi, and the other from Sitamarhi to Motihari.
Power Grid Corporation of India currently has ten projects under development, won under the TBCB mechanism, excluding the ERSS-XXI scheme. Of this one project—the Vemagiri transmission scheme—has been officially scrapped. The ERSS-XXI scheme is the eleventh TBCB project for PGCIL, which has so far recorded a 40 per cent success rate (in terms of number of projects) awarded under the TBCB route.
Photograph is for illustration only
