Central transmission utility
Power Grid Corporation of
India Ltd expects that its
total transmission network
would cross 1 lakh circuit km
(ckm) by March 2013. This was
stated by PGCIL CMD R.N.
Nayak at the company's AGM
held on September 19, 2012. As of
August 31, 2012, the company's
transmission network stood at
95,846 ckm with as much as
10,600 ckm getting added during
FY12 alone. The company also
experienced record
transformation capacity addition
during FY12 with 15 new EHV substations with a
transformation capacity of over 30,000 MVA getting added.
The total transformation capacity as of August 31, 2012, stood
at 1,44,303 MVA coming from 157 EHV/HVDC substations.
During FY12, investment approval to 43 new projects with
an estimated cost of Rs.39,225 crore was given. Capital
investment of Rs.17,814 crore was recorded in FY12, almost 50
per cent higher than the comparable level of FY11. PGCIL also
capitalized assets worth Rs.14,021 crore during FY12 as
against Rs.7,313 crore in FY11.
PGCIL added inter-regional power transmission capacity
(IRPTC) of 5,600 mw to the National Grid during FY12, taking
the total to around 28,000 mw as
of March 31. 2012. During the XI
Plan period, the total addition to
IRPTC was 13,900 mw. The
National Grid envisages
synchronous transmission of
power between the country's five
regional exchanges-east, west,
north, north-east and south.
Currently, all the grids except the
southern grid are interconnected.
Connectivity of the southern grid
is expected in the first quarter of
2014.
For the XII Plan period (FY13 to
FY17), PGCIL expects to incur
capital expenditure of Rs.1,00,000 crore as against Rs.55,300
crore made in the X Plan. In the current year, FY13, capital
expenditure is expected to be Rs.20,000 crore. Towards
meeting its XII Plan capex targets, PGCIL has already approved
projects with investments worth Rs.84,000 crore and has
already placed contracts worth Rs.70,000 crore.
As a technological initiative, Power Grid Corporation of
India is considering deployment of high-temperature
superconducting cables that are designed to carry very high
amount of power at low voltage. Further, as these cables
would be underground, it could forestall difficulties related
to securing right-of-way.