India to have world's highest power transmission line.

The 400-km distance between Wardha and Aurangabad may not be very long, but the cables which connect the two cities in Maharashtra will, in a couple of years, have the distinction of being the world's highest capacity power transmission line. At present, it is charged to 400 kV, but when the Power Grid Corporation of India is ready, the capacity of the line will be raised to 1,200 kV. Nowhere in the world does a 1,200-kV line exist, partly because other countries do not need such high capacity lines. China, another country of distances, which does need ultra high voltage transmission, has a 1,100 kV line in commercial operation.

The Wardha-Aurangabad transmission system takes off from a 2 km-long pilot line that the public sector PGCIL has been experimenting in Bina, Madhya Pradesh. The pilot was to study how electrical systems behave when a current of 1,200 volt zips through them.

HBL