Powergrid setting up 400-kv transmission line

Arindam Sinha

Jamshedpur, Sept 12: Union Power Minister Suresh Prabhu laid the foundation stone of a second 400 kv Jamshedpur-Rourkela transmission line of the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) at the Seraikela-Kharswan substation of the Corporation near here on Wednesday.

Powergrid Chairman & Managing Director RP Singh said the 152 km transmission line project, which is scheduled to be completed by October 2003, would cost Rs 75 crore.

Powergrid already has an existing 400 kv Jamshedpur-Rourkela S/C line inter-connecting the upper geographical portion of the region, dominant in thermal generation, with the lower region, dominant in hydel generation.

The substation handles power it receives from the National Thermal Power Corp units at Kahalgaon, Farakka and Talcher super thermal plants (STPs) as also from hydel units.

The need for a second transmission line was being felt due to overloading of the existing line which, Powergrid said, could critically affect the stability and security of the grid. Also, sources said, with NTPC’s Kahalgaon (840 mw) and Talcher (1,000 mw) units having plans to expand and there being a scope for improvement on their current plant load factor (PLF), the need for a second transmission line had become necessary.

According to the Powergrid CMD, the second Jamshedpur-Rourkela S/C line would also help develop power generating units in Jharkhand as PGCIL would be able to handle the excess power to be generated at new and old units, that is, unit which today are having a low PLF.
At present, Powergrid exports power from the power-surplus eastern region to the neighbouring regions, including to the southern and western regions, through the Jamshedpur-Rourkela S/C line.

In order to further enhance the amount of power being exported to the capacity of its HVDC station at Gajuwaka by another 500 mw. It is similarly constructing a 400 KV D/C Rourkela-Raipur line.