Alternative power corridor for Delhi

PowerGrid to set up Rs 1,000 crore line

In a move that would beef up power supply to Delhi, Power Grid Corporation (PGCIL) said it would invest around Rs 1,000 crore to create an alternative power corridor.

The 400 Kv parallel corridor from Rihand to Ballabgarh is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2004.

"The corporation will invest around Rs 1,000 crore for setting up an alternative power highway to bring power to the Capital,' PGCIL executive director DG Sohony said here today.

This would not only reduce dependence on the existing Rihand-Dadri line but would also provide for evacuation of additional power in the future to meet the growing power requirements, Sohony said.

The project, currently under implementation, involves setting up of power line for carrying direct current from Rihand to Ballabgarh via Allahabad and Mainpuri with a capacity of nearly 1,000 Mw.

Outlining the steps the corporation was taking to remove bottlenecks on the existing lines, Sohoni said PGCIL had decided to replace insulators besides cleaning of the same.

To protect transmission towers, the corporation has also decided to install bird guards. Trippings along the Rihand-Dadri line have been blamed for last winter's power crisis.

The current inter-regional power transfer capacity of 8,000 Mw is proposed to be enhanced to 30,000 Mw by 2012, company officials said.

The corporation was planning to set up an additional 60,000 km of transmission network by 2012 at an estimated investment of Rs 70,523 crore.

Of the proposed investment, the corporation would contribute nearly Rs 50,000 crore and the rest would have to come from the private sector, officials said.

The transmission network in the northern region is also expected to get a boost with Powerlinks Transmission Ltd, a joint venture between PGCIL and Tata Power, executing the Tala hydel project.

The project, meant to evacuate power from the 1,020 Mw Tala hydroelectric project in Bhutan, involves setting up of a 1,200 km power transmission line from Siliguri in West Bengal to Mandola in Uttar Pradesh and entails an investment of around Rs 1,200 crore.

Powerful prospects

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• The 400 Kv parallel corridor from Rihand to Ballabgarh is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2004
• This will not only reduce dependence on the existing Rihand-Dadri line but will also provide for evacuation of additional power in the future to meet the growing power requirements
• The current inter-regional power transfer capacity of 8,000 Mw is proposed to be enhanced to 30,000 Mw by 2012
• The corporation was planning to set up an additional 60,000 km of transmission network by 2012 at an estimated investment of Rs 70,523 crore