Govt Mulls 233 GW New Transmission Capacity

The Ministry of Power on Tuesday said the government is mulling electricity transmission for renewable energy capacity of about 233 GW, latest by 2030, across the country.
     
"Planning of transmission system for integration of additional 52 GW potential REZ (renewable energy zone) by 2026-27 have been carried out...transmission schemes for another 181.5 GW... by 2030 have been planned and the same would be taken up for implementation in a progressive manner," the ministry told members of Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to it in a meeting held on Tuesday.
     
The Meeting of Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Power was held here, as per a statement. Union Minister for Power R K Singh chaired the meeting.
     
Minister of State for Power and Heavy industries Krishan Pal Gurjar was also present in the meeting. Members of Parliament of various political parties took part in the meeting.
     
The MPs present included Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Dinesh Lal Yadav, Khagen Murmu, Pradyut Bordoloi, Ritesh Pandey, Ramdas Chandrabhanji Tadas, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, among others.
     
The subject of the meeting was 'Development of National Electricity Grid in India – Its Significance'.
     
The initiatives for integration of non-fossil fuel energy are implementation of green energy corridors, transmission system for ultra mega solar power parks, transmission system for 66.5 GW renewable energy zones by 2022 and establishment of 13 RE management centres (REMCs) to address variability and uncertainty of RE (renewable energy) generation, the members were told.
     
They were also told that all five regional grids in India were synchronised into the national grid by December 2013.
     
The remote Leh region was connected to the national grid in January 2019 through the 220 kv Srinagar-Leh Transmission system.
     
The national grid transmission system has added transmission lines of 1,71,149 ckm since 2014-15 and transmission capacity of 6,03,916 MVA since 2014-15.
     
At present, the installed capacity of the national grid is 404 GW and the peak demand met is 216 GW.
     
In the meeting, it was informed that the transmission system is the backbone of the power system. Integrated transmission network allows the power to be generated anywhere.
     
"We have One Nation, One Grid, One Frequency, One National Load Dispatch Centre for the country resulting in one market. India's transmission system is the major integrated grid in the world," it stated.
     
At present, the power consumption in the country is 1,400 billion units, which is estimated to double by 2030.