Of the planned 24 gigawatt (GW) of transmission capacity to aid evacuation of green power from renewable energy zones across the country under the Green Energy Corridor initiative, 20 GW capacity has been commissioned so far. The first phase of GEC is expected to be completed very shortly, official sources, who did not wish to be identified, told FE.
“We have almost completed Phase-I of the Green Energy Corridor. Of 24 GW, 20 GW is already commissioned and the remaining is left because of some last mile certain issue like RoW (Right of Way) etc. Out of 8 states, 4 states have completed 100% work, another four have also completed some 90-94% of the work. Phase 1 will be completed very shortly,” the official said.
The Green Energy Corridor project, started in 2015, comprises both Inter State Transmission System (ISTS) and Intra State Transmission System (InSTS) along with the setting up of Renewable Energy Management Centre (REMC) and the control infrastructure like, reactive compensation, storage systems, etc.
Central Financial Assistance (CFA) is provided to set up transmission infrastructure for evacuation of power from renewable energy projects.
The Intra-State Transmission System (InSTS) GEC-I Scheme has been delayed due to various reasons such as Right of Way (RoW) issues, delay in issuing tenders because of delay in substation land acquisition, delay in award of works due to low bid turnout in various projects which resulted in re-tendering several times, court cases, forest clearances, Great Indian Bustard (GIB) related clearance etc, the government has earlier said.
As per the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the budgetary allocation for GEC scheme is Rs 600 crore for the year 2025-26.
Green Energy Corridor (GEC) Phase-I (Intra-State) scheme aims at addition of around 9,767 circuit kilometres (ckm) of transmission lines and approx. 22,689 MegaVolt-Amperes (MVA) transformation capacity of substations in eight states including Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan & Tamil Nadu, as per latest report by standing committee on energy.
Phase I is expected to facilitate grid integration and power evacuation of 24 GW of renewable energy power projects in these states.
The government also expects to complete Phase II of GEC within the next two years now.
“Phase II has already advanced. Almost all the packages have been planned, many have been tendered and more than half have already been awarded. So projects are already sanctioned, execution work has started. We believe in the next two years they will come to the advanced stage nearing completion,” the official said.
The Phase-II (Intra-State) intends addition of approx. 10,750 ckm of transmission lines and 27,500 MVA transformation capacity (subsequently revised to 7,919 circuit kilometres (ckm) of transmission lines and 24,488 MVA transformation capacity) of substations in seven states, namely Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. The phase II includes power evacuation of 20 GW of renewable energy power projects.
Under the GEC-II (Inter-State) project, the goal is to set up 713 km of transmission lines and two 5 GW capacity of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) terminals – one each at Pang (Ladakh) and Kaithal (Haryana). The project will facilitate power 33 evacuation from renewable energy power projects of 13 GW capacity along with 12 GWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Ladakh.
Official sources informed that land for the strategic line planned from Ladakh to Haryana has been identified and the work is going as per timeline. “Earlier there were some delays but the route has been mapped now and the design is underway. We are building pockets of solar capacity within Leh, coupled with battery capacity which will be transported to the main area near Kaithal and further distributed to the northern grid and across the country,” the source said.
The ministry anticipates the Inter-State Transmission System for the 13 GW renewable energy project in Ladakh to be completed by FY30.
According to the standing committee’s report on energy, in GEC Phase-I, all projects have been completed in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. The InSTS GEC Phase-I has been delayed in the remaining four states and Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Maharashtra had sought extension up to June 2025.
“Major projects proposed to be undertaken in FY26 are completion of phase-I of the GEC, completion of tendering process and award of works for InSTS and ISTS in GEC-II. Further, it is anticipated that phase-III of the GEC will be rolled out during the year 2025-26,” the ministry had earlier told the committee.
The committee in its report noted that the Phase-I of Intra-State GEC has been given multiple extensions, but still the work has not been completed.
It further noted that transmission infrastructure is critical for timely evacuation of power from renewable energy projects, and urged the ministry to closely coordinate with state governments as well as other stakeholders to resolve the issues being faced.