Power Ministry plans ₹40,000-cr transmission infrastructure to evacuate RE power from Gujarat, Rajasthan.

The Ministry of Power has chalked out ₹40,000-crore capital investment for building transmission infrastructure to evacuate renewable power from Gujarat and Rajasthan.

The government plans to spend ₹18,598 crore for Khavda hybrid renewable energy park in Gujarat and ₹19,483 crore for the Jaisalmer-Barmer region of Rajasthan.

The Khavda hybrid renewable energy park in Gujarat is expected to be the home for 30 GW of wind and solar energy. The government is currently working on Phase-IV of the broad programme, in which phase transmission infrastructure will be built to evacuate 7 GW of renewable power.

The Jaisalmer-Barmer complex is expected to house 5.5 GW.

These were among the projects taken up for discussions by the National Committee on Transition (NCT) recently.

The NCT is also deliberating upon a ₹2,623 crore transmission project to evacuate power from the 450 MW Shongtong Karcham hydroelectric project in Himachal Pradesh and a ₹2,564 crore ‘Eastern Region Expansion Scheme XXXIV’ to supply renewable energy to Paradip.

Since wind and solar plants come up faster than the associated transmission infrastructure, the government is keen on planning for evacuation of power in advance.

Already, in some places the inadequacy of infrastructure is felt. Currently, 3200 MW RE in Rajasthan is being evacuated through ‘short term open access’ due to delay in commissioning of 400 kV Bikaner-II system. As a consequence, about 600-700 MW of renewable power capacity is facing curtailment.

At an NCT meeting on May 12, the committee’s Chairman Ghanshyam Prasad, observed that “the constraints likely to arise in the inter-regional transmission corridors in the next three-four years must be studied regularly and remedial measures like strengthening of the transmission links must be taken up in a timely manner to ensure seamless flow of power.” 

HBL