The 400kV Wangtoo-Abdullapur transmission line of
Jaypee Powergrid Ltd is scheduled to commission
very soon, a senior company official told Electrical
Monitor. The 216-km line running from Himachal Pradesh
to Haryana is meant to evacuate power from the 1,000-mw
Karcham Wangtoo hydropower project of the Jaiprakash
Group in Himachal Pradesh, apart from other upcoming
hydropower projects in north India. The transmission line
will terminate into Power Grid Corporation's Abdullapur
pooling station in Haryana.
The line is in the final stages of commissioning the official
said indicating that it should be operational by September
15. The power corridor is significant as it represents
amongst the early public-private partnerships in the
Indian power transmission sector. Jaypee Powergrid is a
joint venture between Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd
(part of the Jaiprakash Group) that holds 74 per cent
equity stake, and Central transmission utility Power
Grid Corporation of India Ltd that holds a minority 26
per cent stake.
The transmission line with over 500 towers and built
at a cost of `1,000 crore is also believed to be the first
400kV Quad double-circuit line in Indian hilly terrain.
Nearly 150 km of the transmission corridor will pass
through hilly and snowy terrains in north India.
The Wangtoo-Abdullapur corridor will be able to
transfer 3,000 mw of power from various hydropower
projects, both private and state government-owned, for
consumption in north Indian states.
Jaypee Powergrid Ltd represents one of the five joint
ventures set up by PGCIL with private players for interstate
transmission projects, formed in 2006-07. In each
of these, PGCIL is a minority partner with 26 per cent.
Other joint ventures were signed with Reliance ADAG,
Torrent Power, Teesta Urja (Athena Group) and a
consortium of ONGC and IL&FS.
India's very first case of PPP in power transmission
is Powerlinks Transmission Ltd, a joint venture
between Tata Power Ltd (51 per cent) and Power Grid
Corporation of India Ltd (49 per cent). It was formed
for importing power from the 1,200-mw Tala
hydropower project in Bhutan.
Trial runs on fourth turbine: Meanwhile, Jaiprakash
Group's 1,000-mw Karcham Wangtoo hydropower project,
which is also India's largest private hydropower project till
date, is also scheduled to commission very soon, according
to project officials. Three of the four 250-mw turbines are
already in operational. Trial runs on the fourth unit have
begun, it is learnt. The first unit was commissioned in May
2011 followed by the other two in close succession.
On full commissioning, the Karcham-Wangtoo project is
expected to generate nearly 4,400 million kwh of electricity
in a 90 per cent dependable year. Around 80 per cent of
power generated will be sold to north Indian states like
Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, including
royalty sale to home state Himachal Pradesh. The
remaining 20 per cent will constitute merchant sales.
The 1,000-mw Karcham Wangtoo asset on completion
will take Jaiprakash Group's power portfolio to 1,700
mw. Jaiprakash set up its first hydropower project—
Baspa (300 mw)— in Himachal Pradesh in 2003. This was
followed by the 400 mw Vishnuprayag hydropower
project in Uttarakhand commissioned in June 2006.
Jaiprakash is also pursuing large hydropower schemes in
Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, apart from a 1,320-
mw coal-fired power plant on supercritical parameters in
Madhya Pradesh.