New Delhi, Jan 6,2022: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday approved the second phase of Green Energy Corridor (GEC) for Intra-State Transmission System (InSTS). The project aims at synchronizing electricity produced from renewable sources, such as solar and wind, with conventional power stations in the grid.
Officials said the second phase of the scheme will facilitate grid integration and power evacuation of approximately 20 GW of Renewable Energy (RE) power projects in seven States – Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
It will add approximately 10,750 circuit kilometres of transmission lines and nearly 27,500 Mega Volt-Amperes transformation capacity of substations at a cost of Rs 12,000 crore.
“The scheme is targeted to be set up with total estimated cost of Rs 12,031.33 crore and Central Financial Assistance (CFA) of 33 percent of the project cost which is Rs 3970.34 crore. The transmission systems will be created over a period of five year from Financial Year 2021-22 to 2025-26,” a statement said.
“The Central Financial Assistance (CFA) will help in offsetting the Intra-State transmission charges and thus keep the power costs down. Thus, the Government support will ultimately benefit the end users — the citizens of India”.
The scheme will help in achieving the target of 450 GW installed RE capacity by 2030, the statement said.
The scheme is also expected to contribute to long term energy security of the country and promote ecologically sustainable growth by reducing carbon footprint. It will generate large direct and indirect employment opportunities for both skilled and unskilled personnel in power and other related sectors.
The GEC-Phase-I is already under implementation in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu for grid integration and power evacuation of approx. 24 GW of RE power and is expected to be completed by 2022.
The scheme is for addition of 9700 ckm of transmission lines and 22600 MVA capacity of substations having estimated cost of transmission projects of Rs. 10,141.68 crore with Central Financial Assistance (CFA) of Rs. 4056.67 crore.
