Power transmission network for evacuation of RE power will come up before projects: RK Singh

New Delhi: Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh said that power transmission systems in the country for the evacuation of renewable energy (RE) will come up before power generation projects. Launching a comprehensive plan, titled "Transmission System for Integration of over 500 GW RE Capacity by 2030" on Wednesday, Singh warned power transmission service providers of penalty if a green power project comes up but the infrastructure is not present for power evacuation.

India has committed to putting in place 500 GW of RE capacity by 2030. Since the gestation period of RE power projects is much lower in comparison to transmission networks, the government has placed focus on readying the infrastructure required for the evacuation of intermittent RE power by 2030. At the COP-26 summit in Glasgow, India had committed to meeting 50 percent of its energy requirement through non-fossil fuel-sources.

Power transmission plan shows India's commitment to its goals: Singh

Launching the transmission plan, Singh said that it should dispel any doubts about India's intention to remain committed to achieving its targets. He assured power transmission developers of payments even before power generation capacities come up in the area, but warned them of penalties if they fail to erect infrastructures for power evacuation on time.

While noting that the speed at which transmission network is being built is not satisfactory, Singh said that power transmission capacity addition needs to go up.

Addressing the stakeholders at the event, Power Secretary Alok Kumar said that the plan should act as a big assurance to both developers and investors for putting their money into developing more RE power projects.

India will need 8,120 ckm of HVDC transmission corridor for 500 GW RE

According to the roadmap launched by Singh, the additional transmission systems required for having 500 GW of non-fossil fuel will include 8,120 ckm of High Voltage Direct Current Transmission corridors (+800 kV and +350 kV), 25,960 ckm of 765 kV ac lines, 15,758 ckm of 400 kV lines and 1,052 ckm of 220 kV cable. This will entail at an estimated cost of Rs 2.44 lakh crore.

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The transmission plan also includes the transmission system required for the evacuation of 10 GW off-shore wind located in Gujarat and Tamilnadu at an estimated cost of Rs 0.28 lakh crore. With the planned transmission system, the inter-regional capacity will increase to about 1.50 lakh MW by 2030 from 1.12 lakh MW at present.

Considering the availability of Renewable Energy based generation for a limited period during the day, the plan also envisages the installation of a Battery Energy Storage Capacity of the order of 51.5 GW by 2030 to provide Round-the-Clock power to end-consumers.

The plan has identified major upcoming non-fossil fuel-based generation centres in the country, which include Fatehgarh, Bhadla, Bikaner in Rajasthan, Khavda in Gujarat, Anantapur, Kurnool RE Zones in Andhra Pradesh, offshore wind potentials in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, RE park in Ladakh etc and based on these potential generation centres, transmission systems have been planned.

The planned transmission system projected will provide visibility to renewable energy developers about the potential generation sites and scale of investment opportunity. Further, it will also provide the transmission service providers with the vision of growth opportunity available in the transmission sector along with an investment opportunity of about Rs 2.44 lakh crore.

The Ministry of Power had constituted a high-level committee under the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) Chairperson, with representatives from Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), Central Transmission Utility of India Ltd (CTU), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd, National Institute of Solar Energy, and National Institute of Wind Energy for planning the transmission system required for having 500 GW of non-fossil fuel based installed capacity by 2030.

The committee prepared the detailed plan in consultation with states and other stakeholders.

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