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New Delhi: Burra Vamsi Rama Mohan, the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL), has said that the One Sun, One World, One Grid concept is gaining fresh traction because of disruption around the Strait of Hormuz. "... the One Sun, One World, One Grid (is) also getting active traction in terms of the increasing challenges owing to Hormuz, so the need for integration is much more visible now," he said. "So, we expect that the neighbouring countries (would) get associated in strengthening the grid beyond the borders."
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He was speaking at POWERGRID's investors' and analysts' webinar on the company's first quarter results for FY 2026-27. The webinar was held on August 7 and the transcript was made public on Friday.
One Sun, One World, One Grid is a proposal for a transnational electricity grid. The idea was put forward by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the first assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in October 2018, and aims to connect regional grids through a common grid used to transfer renewable power. The reasoning is that the sun is shining somewhere at any given moment, so surplus solar generation in one time zone can meet demand in another.
India and the United Kingdom jointly launched the Green Grids Initiative-OSOWOG at COP26 in Glasgow on November 2, 2021, alongside the One Sun Declaration approved by the fourth ISA assembly. It now runs as an ISA flagship programme on regional and global interconnections.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been largely blocked by Iran since February 28, 2026, when the United States and Israel launched an air war against Iran. Traffic through the strait has been severely disrupted for most of the past five months, as of early August.
The strait is a seaborne route for oil and LNG. A grid interconnection is not. The supply disruptions precipitated by the West Asia crisis has made the proposal to connect transnational electricity grids more lucrative than ever.
India's grid is already connected to Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. A 1,000 MW HVDC interconnection between Madurai in India and Mannar in Sri Lanka is planned, running 285 km with 50 km of submarine cable, to be built by Power Grid and the Ceylon Electricity Board. An Imphal-Tamu link with Myanmar has also been proposed.
Further west, India has been exploring subsea grid connections with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and with Singapore on the east coast. An agreement was signed between the Saudi National Electricity Transmission Company and India's Central Transmission Utility to examine the feasibility of an electrical interconnection.
Mohan framed the obstacle as diplomatic rather than technical. "We need to bridge that gap with the diplomatic relations with that country," he said. He said Power Grid has already achieved One Nation One Grid, One Frequency, and described cross-border integration as the next extension.
"So, the moment one or two countries we are able to integrate, which other countries are doing elsewhere in the world, so we are going to stitch this particular network across the world," he said. "It would be in the interest of the mankind, I should say, if we are getting through this."
On equipment, the CMD said high-intensity growth in the sector has at times strained existing manufacturing capacity. He said Power Grid has moved to bulk procurement instead of project-specific procurement, to give manufacturers greater visibility.
"This has given the confidence to the OEMs, so they have started establishing good quantum of capacities," he said. He said this is reflecting in better price discovery and better timelines. "So the stress on the equipment supplies which was there some time back should not be as much what it was before."
When asked whether transformer prices had stopped rising, Vamsi Rama Mohan said more players and more supply capacity would reduce both prices and timelines. He added a caveat on inputs. "But having said that, the raw material, which is required for the transformers and all, that is the factor which will continue to impress upon the costing of this equipment over here," he said. "So, we see that the prices are quite stabilised over here."
The CMD said the government's land compensation guidelines for right-of-way have not been factored into the transmission capex estimates.
"So obviously, this has not been factored while working upon the estimates, and it is presently not possible to actually even factor in the quantum because that would be emerging only once the MRC rate has been finalised," he said.
He said Delhi and Haryana adopted the guidelines first, that Gujarat has done so recently, and that other states are following. He said the impact could be project-specific, differing between high urban areas and rural areas. Asked whether the Rs 7.9 lakh crore figure could therefore rise, he said these are general estimates and that a massive escalation would be reflected in costs.
Mohan said transmission line construction timelines have been relaxed after being compressed under competitive bidding. He said the timeline for a transmission line was earlier about 36 to 40 months. Private parties then pushed for tighter schedules, and 18 months was at one point set for a 765 kV double circuit line, which he called challenging. "So, over a period of time, it has been now recognised and realised that these timelines are not practical in terms of implementing transmission systems," he said. He said the government has revisited the timelines, which now stand at about 26 to 30 months plus.
He said right-of-way challenges cannot be wished away, citing increasing urbanisation and competing infrastructure.
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The CMD said CERC has amended the terms of tariff regulations to allow transmission developers to build integrated storage systems. He said Power Grid obtained consent from the Northern and Western Region power committees and has filed petitions before the regulator.
"We have done all the groundwork, all the homework is done, and we already filed the petitions," he said. He said the company moved within two to three months of the regulation, and that the business would sit under Section 62 of the Electricity Act.
The PGCIL CMD listed the National Electricity Plan and the anchor programme of 900 plus GW of non-fossil capacity by 2035-36, at Rs 7.9 lakh crore, as strategic drivers. He put hydro potential in the northeast portion of the Brahmaputra basin at about Rs 6.4 lakh crore. He described data centres as one of the strongest sources of intake for transmission systems to evolve, at about 71 GW.
He said the immediate bidding pipeline stands at Rs 1.19 lakh crore, and that the Rs 7.9 lakh crore would be spread over the next three to four years, since the systems are needed by 2035-36.
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