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The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) is planning a capex of Rs 20,000 crore per year for the next five years into the power transmission sector, according to a senior official from the company.
Delivering his speech while inaugurating the digital substation automation competence centre of Alstom T&D India, a part of French power generation, transmission and transport firm Alstom, R P Sasmal, Director Operations, PGCIL, said, “The capex for the transmission sector we have taken up is of Rs 20,000 crore per year, almost $4billion dollar a year, for next five years.”
“We have already placed orders for Rs 80,000 crore and every year we are going to spend around Rs 20,000-24,000 crore. Our capital work in progress is about Rs 40,000 crore,” he added.
The company is also working on the National Transmission Asset Management Centre (NTAMC), where it has a plan to operate 192 substations from the remote. All the substations would be unmanned as far as operation is concerned and the operations would be started in next few months. It has already started operations in 25 substations under the system.
Cyber security is an area where the companies has to focus more on, once the NTAMC is operational. Technology in the power transmission sector is changing rapidly and there is a requirement for trained manpower to support the technology, said Sasmal.
The future projects would be of 1,200 KV lines and the company with participation of 37 Indian manufacturers are conducting tests on the platform in the National Test Station at Bina, Madhya Pradesh. The company expects that its first 1200 KV line from Wardha to Aurangabad would be started in 2015-16 or 2016-17.
He also added that the future plans should be made by considering the requirements of at least 10 years in future. For instance, while everybody denied need of a transmission system connecting Southern region to the other region three to four years back, saying that the States are power surplus, now there is a demand for connecting the national grid. “We have to look out to at least 10 years ahead while planning,” he added.
