Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has granted transmission licence to Solapur Transmission Ltd for its interstate transmission system (ISTS) scheme in Maharashtra.
Solapur Transmission Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torrent Power Ltd, is developing an ISTS scheme termed as “Transmission system for evacuation of power from RE projects in Solapur (1,500 MW) in Maharashtra” that it had won under the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) mechanism.
As reported by T&D India on June 4, 2024, CERC, in its order, had found Solapur Transmission Ltd eligible for the transmission licence and had directed the developer to issue a public notice seeking objections/suggestions from the public for grant of transmission licence.
As no objections were received to the public notice issued on June 7, 2024, CERC, in its order dated June 23, 2024, has granted transmission licence to Solapur Transmission Ltd.
Solapur Transmission will be developing a new 400/220kV pooling station at Solapur in Maharashtra with 4×500 MVA interconnecting transformers. There will also be a 400kV double-circuit line running 90 ckm, connecting this pooling station to the existing Solapur substation of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.
The project, with an estimated outlay of Rs.471 crore, is scheduled to commission by March 20, 2026, which is 24 months from the date of acquisition of the project SPV “Solapur Transmission Ltd” from the bid process coordinator PFC Consulting Ltd.
RE Connectivity Applications
It is learnt that so far in-principle ISTS connectivity to the Solapur pooling station has been granted to nine solar power projects with aggregate capacity of 960 MW. These solar projects are expected to commission during the period March 2026 to December 2026.
Of these nine projects, the following four have been granted connectivity first:
- Solarcraft Power India 7 Pvt Ltd (50 MW)
- Solarcraft Power India 7 Pvt Ltd (52.8 MW)
- Solarcraft Power India 7 Pvt Ltd (47.2 MW)
- JSW Neo Energy Ltd (300 MW)
The remaining five will be connected after the commissioning of the Solapur pooling station.
It may be mentioned that the existing 765/400/220kV Solapur substation of PGCIL, commissioned in January 2014, has a transformation capacity of 2×1,500 MVA at the 765/400kV level and (2×315 MVA + 500 MVA) at the 400/220kV level. As far as new RE projects are concerned, connectivity has been granted to 11 under-construction RE generation projects, aggregating 1 GW, at PGCIL’s Solapur substation. These projects, predominantly belonging to ReNew Power Group and Serentica Renewables, are scheduled to commission between June 30, 2024 and September 30, 2025.
Featured photograph is for representation only.
