PowerGrid commissions 1500 Mw 2nd pole of Kurukshetra HVDC

This will improve power supplies to northern India

State-owned Power Grid Corp on Wednesday said it has started commercial operations of 1,500 Mw second pole of Champa-Kurukshetra high-voltage direct current line, which will improve power supplies to northern India.

"Pole II of the 800kV Champa-Kurukshetra HVDC Terminal along with associated bays under 'WR-NR' HVDC Interconnector for IPPs (independent power producers) projects in Chhattisgarh has been put under commercial operation," Power Grid Corp said in BSE filing on Wednesday.

Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and adjoining areas would benefit from operationalisation of the second pole of the high voltage direct current (HVDC) power transmission link.

It will mainly interconnect the independent power producers in Chhattisgarh as they will be able to supply power to northern states.

The first pole of 1,500 Mw of the HVDC link has already started commercial operations earlier in March this year. The link's capacity will be enhanced to 3,000 Mw after the second pole begins commercial operation. The link has four poles of 1,500 Mw each.

The 3,000 Mw capacity will now be available for evacuation of power from energy resource region of Chhattisgarh including Chamoa, Raigarh and Raipur; to Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and adjoining areas.

The first pole of the HVDC Terminal at Champa along with 2,576 km Champa-Kurukshetra HVDC Transmission line was commissioned at a total cost of about Rs 6,300 crore.

This transmission system is further being upgraded to 6,000 MW capacity at additional cost of Rs 5,200 crore. The entire project of 6,000 Mw capacity is expected to be completed by December 2018.

The transmission system has been designed using HVDC Technology and will facilitate in meeting controlled power flow requirement, flexibility of operation as well as maintaining system parameters within limits through its control mechanism.

The link augments the inter-regional capacity of Northern region with Western region, thereby facilitating economic dispatch of power and exchange of surplus power between Northern region and Western region, depending on the availability of generation and load demand in each region.