ABB wins $640 million grid contract from Power Grid Corp

The system will have the capacity to supply electricity to 80 million people, says ABB

Transformer maker ABB won a $640 million contract for a 1,830-km (1,137-mile) power link in India to connect thermal and wind power plants with the country's growing urban areas, the Swiss company said in a statement on Tuesday.

ABB won the contract from Power Grid Corporation of India , the national electricity grid operator, to provide equipment for an ultra-high-voltage 800 kilo-volt system between Raigarh in central India and Pugalur, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

The system, one of the longest in the world, will have the capacity to supply electricity to 80 million people once it is completed in 2019, ABB said.