PowerGrid eyes distribution, scouting for partners

Our Infrastructure Bureau

New Delhi, Dec 6: Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) is planning to enter distribution business and will soon undertake joint studies with leading multinational companies for various distribution circles in the country.

While Siemens and ABB have approached PowerGrid in this regard, the latter plans to call for expression of interest (EoI) from leading domestic and foreign power companies and will decide on a partner on the basis of the lowest bid,CMD RP Singh told newsmen here on Thursday. The proposal is before the nodal ministry for clearance following which bids for EoI will be called, he added.

Mr Singh said PowerGrid is already advising various electricity boards in developing distribution systems which can be presented as ‘models.’ The power ministry has assigned 12 distribution circles to PowerGrid for developing them as centres of excellence under the much touted Accelerated Power Development Programme, the chairman added.

Mr Singh said the corporation is in the process of implementing 17 major transmission projects, most of which are being implemented without any cost over-runs and are ahead of schedule by 6-12 months. As an indication, Mr Singh referred to the largest HVDC Talcher-II bi-pole project, currently under implementation, where PowerGrid has reduced the cost of the project by 32 per cent.
“We have set Talcher-II as the benchmark for other projects. This project is expected to be completed six months ahead of the schedule and the cost has come down from Rs 3,865 crore to Rs 2,627 crore,” added Mr Singh.

For meeting the huge fund requirement for completing these 17 projects, Mr Singh said PowerGrid has recently tied up for a loan of $450 million from the World Bank and has also raised Rs 456 crore from the domestic market. “Another Rs 200 to 300 crore would be raised from the domestic market based on the requirement for these projects during this fiscal,” he added.