Power Grid to spend Rs 6,000 cr on expansion in South

Transmission lines of over 4,000 circuit km under construction, spread over Andhra Pradesh and parts of TN, Karnataka, Maharashtra

State-run Power Grid Corporation has earmarked Rs 6,000 crore for expansion in the Southern region, a senior official said today.

"Transmission lines of over 4,000 ckms (circuit km) are under construction, spread over Andhra Pradesh and parts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. We are spending Rs 6,000 crore as part of the total expansion plans in the region,"  V Sekhar, Executive Director (SRTS-I), Power Grid said.

Meanwhile, the company in filing with the BSE said the Board of Directors of the company have approved System strengthening–XVII in Southern region grid at an estimated cost of Rs 1,508.74 crore with commissioning schedule of 33 months from the date of investment approval.

Sekhar said that currently seven new 765/400KV sub- stations are under construction at Nellore, Raichur, Kurnool, Hyderabad, Khammam, Vemagiri and Srikakulam and four out of these seven stations are the latest state-of-the-art gas insulated sub stations.

He said the Region has 7,213 circuit km (ckms) of 400 KV High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) and 1,910 ckms of 500KV High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission lines in operation. The region has ten 400 KV HVAC substations with a transformation capacity of 6,300 Megavolt Ampere.

For the first time in South, a double circuit 765 KV high capacity transmission line is being constructed between Nellore and Kurnool which is capable of handling about 5,000 MW. Together with Nellore – Gooty 400KV Double Circuit line, about 6,000 MW is handled in the Krishnapatnam area, he added.

For strengthening the reliability of the power system in the Southern Region, 765 KV Double Circuit line between Kurnool and Tiruvalem (Tamil Nadu) and 400KV Double Circuit line between Gooty and Madhugiri (Karnataka) are under construction, Sekhar explained.

Sekhar said the Government of Andhra Pradesh would facilitate Power Grid to obtain necessary permissions, registrations and clearances from respective departments of the state.

"All these projects will be executed in the next two to two and half years schedule. Many of the projects are under execution. And some of the projects will start very shortly," Sekhar said.