Power Grid Corporation of India Plans Capacity of 37,000-MW by 2017

State-owned transmission network provider Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (Gurgaon, India) has announced plans to enhance India's power transmission capacity to 37,000-MW by the end of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2012-2017). The capacity enhancement is part of the long-term unified national power grid strategy envisioned by the company. The project is expected to be completed in phases.
In line with this strategy, Power Grid Corporation of India commissioned a double-circuit transmission line between Ranchi and Sipat that will help increase the capacity of power transfer between the western and eastern sectors of the country from the present 1,800-MW to 3,000-MW. In December 2008, the company also commenced with the full capacity utilization of the Bihar Shariff-Sasaram-Allahabad link to enable a 500-MW enhancement of transmission capacity between the eastern and northern regions. The power transfer capacity between these regions after enhancement is around 4,000-MW.

The national power grid has been planned to facilitate seamless transfer of power from private and state-owned power-generating stations in regions having short-term surplus to areas where there is power deficit. As part of this plan, the northern, northeastern, eastern and western grids have been synchronized to work at the same frequency. The southern grid is presently connected through a high-voltage direct current link to the synchronized grid.

To reach the target of 37,000-MW by the end of 2017, Power Grid Corporation of India intends to invest an estimated $11.32 billion during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan to build more inter-regional transmission links and also strengthen existing regional grids. The present economic slowdown is not expected to dampen the investment plans, as the company is in talks with many domestic funding organizations and international financial institutions. Loans of around $2.2 billion are in the final stages of sanction from the Asian Development Bank (Manila, Philippines) and the World Bank (Washington, D.C.).

In 2008, Power Grid Corporation added eight new substations and 4,800 circuit kilometers of transmission network in the country, which is likely to bring revenue enhancements of approximately 25% in the next four to five years. The revenue and net profit of the company in 2007-08 was $1.04 billion and $298 million, respectively. The company is planning to enhance its 20,000-km fiber-optic transmission network, which connects about 100 cities in the country. This network is presently leased to more than 60 telecom service providers, including Reliance Communications (Mumbai), Tata (Maharashtra) Teleservices Limited (Mumbai), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (New Delhi) and Bharti Airtel (New Delhi). The space available on more than 200,000 transmission towers will also be leased to mobile telephone service providers.

Power Grid Corporation of India has around 69,500 circuit kilometers of transmission network and 116 substations, which makes it one of the largest power transmission companies in the world. Incorporated in 1992, Power Grid Corporation is one of the few public sector companies in India to be awarded Navaratna status. This status, conferred by the Department of Public Enterprises, gives state-owned companies the autonomy to strategize and operate in the competitive global market. Power Grid Corporation of India has maintained network availability for power transfer at 99.65 percent, which places it among the most efficient transmission utilities in the world.

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