The addition of power transmission infrastructure showed improvement in the first two months of FY22, compared with the same period of FY21.
According to newly released statistics, India saw the addition of 699 circuit km (ckm) of transmission lines in the first two months (April – May) of current fiscal year, FY22. This was, as a matter of sheer coincidence, exactly the same as that added in the first two months of FY21. (See table). It may be noted that this only includes transmission lines of 220kV or higher.
In the case of transformation capacity (substations), the growth was significant. In the first two months of FY22, a total of 8,170 MVA of substation capacity was commissioned, which was 68 per cent higher than the 4,870 MVA added in the same period of FY21.
There was no contribution by the private sector in FY22, in terms of new transmission lines or substations. In contrast, private sector entities had accounted for 1,000 MVA of substation capacity in the April-May period of FY21. Incidentally, this achievement came by the commissioning of just one element—a 400/220kV GIS substation at Sohna Road (Gurgaon) in Haryana, by Sterlite Power.
In FY22, up to May 31, 2021, Central government agencies (entirely subsumed by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd) commissioned 521 ckm of new transmission lines. The biggest achievement here was the 268-ckm 765kV double-circuit Ajmer-Phagi transmission line, commissioned by PGCIL in April 2021. State power transmission utilities could add only 178 ckm, with new lines seen mainly in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra.
In terms of new transformation capacity, Central government entities (exclusively PGCIL) did very well to add 6.530 MVA worth of substations, as against 1,640 MVA added by state utilities. Much of the addition by PGCIL came from the 3,000 MVA, 765/400kV substation at Bhuj in Gujarat. Another 1,500 MVA substation, at Bhuj itself, was also commissioned by PGCIL during the early months of FY22.
Featured photograph (source: Adani Transmission Ltd) is for illustration only
