News

Power Grid’s Rs1 trillion expansion to back Modi’s economic, goals

State-owned power transmission company Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd will spend Rs.1 trillion over four years to expand its network and connect areas affected by left-wing extremism, facilitating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goals on village electrification, uninterrupted power for all and development of the North-east, said chairman and managing director I.S. Jha.Power Grid’s spending is also reshaping the electricity market as multiple transmission lines from power plants in different geographies with different cost structures to the same customer base offer more power purchasing choices for industrial consumers and distribution companies, breaking the monopoly that is natural to actors in this capital-intensive infrastructure industry.

Power Grid on Monday put into operation a 186 circuit km (ckm) 400 kilovolt (kV) transmission line from Ranchi Jharkhand to Gaya in Bihar enabling an alternative power supply line to eastern Uttar Pradesh as well as to north-eastern states, said Jha. Power Grid already has a network connecting Gaya to Kanpur and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and to the North-east.The Ranchi-Gaya transmission line passes through the hilly districts of Lohardaga, Latehar and Chatra in Jharkhand. The state police have reported left-wing extremist activities in this region.