 "Air insulated substation (AIS) installed by Alstom")
The state owned Power Grid Corporation of India completed the construction and started power supply in its first 'Power Transmission Express Highway' or the longest HVDC power transmission corridor connecting northern states with north eastern region. The corridor would facilitate to and fro power supply as per seasonal demand and supply position.
The corridor would help transmission of 6,000 Mw of power. However, currently, around 1,700 Mw of power flow is taking place. Power Grid executives said that the line would help in future for managing the supply of large scale hydro power, infirm renewable-based power and would connect power transaction done with Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
The 1,750 km HVDC line traverses through 3 regions, 4 states and around 40 rivers. This massive line consists of 7000 locations. Power Grid said that this high capacity transmission link is the world's largest multi-terminal 800kV HVDC Project, which comprises of 3,000 Mw HVDC terminals each at Biswanath Chariyali & Alipurduar and a 6000 Mw terminal at Agra.
The company is building two more such corridors connecting Chhatisgarh with Haryana and Tamil Nadu respectively are under construction.
"With the operation of this link, North East can get access to cheaper power from Chattisgarh/Jharkhand during low hydro generation and Surplus hydro generation of North Eastern Region shall now find market in rest of India," said R N Nayak, CMD, Power Grid.
S K Soonee, CEO of POSOCO, the power system manager said the direct interconnection of north eastern region with the national grid will be a major boost for hydro power development in North East, Sikkim and Bhutan. "HVDC system would enhance the security & stability of the grid and also reduce the transmission losses," he said.
North Eastern Region together with Sikkim and Bhutan has a large hydro generation potential to the tune of 65,000 MW. Power Grid said the evacuation of this enormous amount of hydro potential needs about 12-15 high capacity transmission corridors each of 5,000-6,000 Mw capacity, keeping in view constraints of right of way in Chicken Neck Area. Out of four feasible corridors in the Chicken Neck Area, one corridor was picked up for implementation by Power Grid for NER development, said the company.
