National Grid Likely To Be Completed By 2002

The Power Grid Corporations Rs 60,000-crore mega transmission project to form a national grid inter-connecting all the regions of the country is likely to be completed by the end of the Tenth five-year plan.

The project is being implemented in three phases. The first phase, which envisages connecting the northern and western regions, western and southern regions, southern and eastern regions, and finally the northern and eastern regions through a high voltage direct current (HVDC) link, is already underway.

A 500 mega watts (mw) link between the northern and western regions (Singrauli and Vindyachal) has already been established, while a 1,000 mw link between the western and southern regions (Chandrapur and Ramagundam) is to come up by July and the 500 mw link between southern and eastern regions (Gazuwaka and Jeypore) will come up by 1999. Both these projects are being executed by GEC-Alsthom.

PowerGrid has tied up with the World Bank and the Overseas Development Association for funding the remaining part of the first phase of the project, which is expected to cost around Rs 1,850 crore.

The second phase of the project would involve construction of an HVDC transmission highway from Talcher to Bangalore and from the Ib valley to Hyderabad and Jaipur. The highway has a potential of 10,000 mw which these lines would be evacuating to other parts of the country. For this, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Jaipur would be further connected by alternate current lines to other cities. Investment of Rs 7,000 crore would be required for this phase, which is expected to come up by 2002.

The final phase of the project will involve building evacuating lines from the north-east for a total capacity of 53,000 mw and interconnecting Purnea, Biharsharif, Allahabad, Agra, Nagda, Jabalpur, and Ib back to Biharsharif with 800 kv lines. PowerGrid estimates an investment of Rs 50,000 crore for this phase.