As part of its inter-state transmission plan, the Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) has agreed to invest about Rs 9000 crore for improving the power evacuation infrastructure in the state.
This amount will be invested in next 5-6 years”, C J Venugopal, chairman-managing director (CMD), Grid Corporation of Orissa (Gridco), said.
Addressing the participants in the ‘Captive Power Series 2009”, organised by the Independent Power Producers Association of India (IPPAI) and the Confederation of the Captive Power Plants, Orissa (CCPPO) here, Venugopal said, the entire planning for the project has been done by PGCIL and it will help in power evacuation from the state.
According to the projection of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the problem of power shortage in north and the western parts of the country is likely to be more acute in future. This inter-state transmission plan, already approved by CEA, will provide the much needed infrastructure for power evacuation to the IPPs setting up of projects in Orissa. Sources said, the plan includes setting up of three 765/400 kv substations, the ring link among the sub-stations and construction of two power corridors.
While the western corridor will connect Jharsuguda to Dharmanjaygarh, the northern corridor will run from from Angul to Barnala. The three 765/400 KV substations will be set up at Angul, Dhenkanal and Jharsuguda and those three sub-stations will be connected through 2 circuit of 765 KV line. The IPPs will get connected to this network and the project will help in the evacuation of the surplus power to be generated from Orissa. “This will be just like a transmission highway in the state and it will facilit ate trading of surplus power”, a senior Gridco official said.
Meanwhile, Ind-Barath Energy (Utkal) Limited and Visaka Thermal Power Pvt. Ltd yesterday signed Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the state owned Gridco. Sahara India Power Corporation had inked PPA with Gridco two days back and Arati Steel is likely to sign the agreement soon. With this, the number of Independent Power Producers (IPPs), who have signed PPA with Gridco, has reached three. Eight IPPs including these three companies signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Orissa government for setting up power projects in February this year.
Combinedly, these IPPs will generate additional 9780 Mw power in the state, which will take the total generation capacity of the IPPs in Orissa to 27,035 Mw. They will invest about Rs 42,023 crore in these projects, taking the total investment by IPPs in Orissa to more than Rs 1,12,000 crore.
