by Suman Gupta
- Transmission line to potentially evacuate ~1000 MW of renewable energy to the national grid
- Significantly augment Gujarat’s power transmission capacity, taking the state’s installed capacity to 11200 MW
Mumbai, 07 September 2022: Sterlite Power’s Mumbai Urja Marg Transmission Limited (MUML), successfully commissioned 400kV Banaskantha, Kansari and Vadavi Transmission line in Gujarat. The high voltage transmission line will help in the evacuation of ~1000 MW of renewable power from the pooling station at Bhuj in northern Gujarat to the national grid. In addition to that, the transmission line, which has been commissioned 4 months ahead of schedule, will significantly augment the available power transmission capacity of the state; taking it from 9300 MW to 11200 MW.
This critical transmission line, part of the larger Western Region Strengthening Scheme-XIX (WRSS-XIX) and North-Eastern Region Strengthening Scheme-IX (NERSS-IX), will also decongest the regional network by reducing the burden on existing transmission lines comprising 400kV D/C Banaskantha-Veloda, 400kV S/C Bhinmal-Zerda (Kansari) and 400kV S/C Kankroli-Zerda (Kansari).
The state of Gujarat significantly contributes towards the renewable energy goals of the country. Against India’s renewable capacity of 90 GW, the state’s contribution stands at ~12 GW. On the back of its strong energy infrastructure, Gujarat aims to establish more than 67 GW of renewable energy by 2030.
Manish Agarwal, Director & CEO, India Transmission Business, Sterlite Power, said, “We are happy to demonstrate our project execution capabilities by ensuring timely execution of this critical transmission line for the state of Gujarat. The transmission corridors are critical infrastructure for the nation given their importance in connecting the power surplus centres with the power deficit corners. Not only this, but success of transmission projects is also imperative to India’s RE vision as it is a critical enabler of RE integration into the grid.”
Sterlite Power acquired the MUML SPV in June 2020 to execute this large inter-State transmission system project. The entire debt funding of ₹2,070 crore for the project is provided by Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC).
About Sterlite Power:Sterlite Power is a leading private sector power transmission infrastructure developer and solutions provider with a robust portfolio of 30 projects covering approximately 14,602 circuit Kms of transmission lines across India and Brazil. The Company has a portfolio of high-performance power conductors, extra-high voltage (EHV) cables and optical ground wires (OPGW). The Company provides bespoke solutions for the upgrade, uprate and fiberization of existing transmission infrastructure projects. Advancing the carriage toward a green energy-efficient future, Sterlite Power has an increasing focus on integrating renewable energy into the grid. It was the sponsor of IndiGrid, India’s first power sector InvIT, listed on Bombay Stock Exchange Limited and National Stock Exchange of India Limited. The Company was also recognised at The Economic Times Innovation Awards 2020 and is a recipient of awards from the International Project Management Association (IPMA).
