State Electricity Transmission Company Limited has recently awarded Areva T&D India the Rs 110 crore contract for construction of WBSETCL’s third 400 KV substation in Kharagpur.
Three more 400 kV substations are in the pipeline one each in Gokorno, Chanditola and Bhangor-Rajarhat area.
"Tenders will be invited shortly, two have been finalised, Bhangore-Rajarhat substation is not yet finalised," said A C Sarkar, director, transmission, West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (WBSETCL).
Once these highvolt substations are commissioned SETCL will have its Transmission Super Highway in place, he added. “Areva T&D India bagged the contract for 400 KV Kharagpur substation through a competitive bidding route ousting the other big bidders like L&T, BHEL, CGL and other. In total eight companies participated in the tender, Areva T&D India quoted the lowest bid, said Sarkar.
Areva T&D India would build SETCL’s third 400kV substation in Kharagpur on a turnkey basis, designing, inspection, operation and maintenance would be done by SETCL itself.
At present, WBSETCL has two 400kV substation, one each in Arambagh and Jeerat.
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The new 400 kV substation would chiefly cater to the power demands of the Kharagpur and adjoining industrial belts, thus extending the existing grid.
The substation would handle a total of 630 megavolt ampere (MVA) of power, with two transformers handling 315 MVA each.
Areva T&D India is also in the process of commissioning a 220 kV substation in Subhasgram and one 132kV substation in Rajarhat area.This apart, in 2009-10 SETCL plans to commission 15 new Extra High Volt substation in the state to uspgrade current transmission network.
Commenting on the order, Rathin Basu, country President & Managing Director of AREVA T&D India said,” The WBSETCL order is a landmark in upgrading the power backbone to 400 kV in West Bengal. AREVA T&D India has been working with WBSETCL to develop the T&D infrastructure in West Bengal and this order demonstrates the confidence of WBSETCL in the strength of our offerings across the value chain”. WBSETCL posted a net profit of Rs 100 crore with a turnover of Rs 650 crore in 2008-09 as against Rs 81 crore net profit in fiscal year 2007-08.