India’s Power Transmission segment is growing in recent years propelled by the growing electricity generation, increasing demand and per capita electricity consumption. The inter-state capacity also reflects growth, with further capacities being added up. Under Saubhagya scheme, all households will be connected by December 2018. To complement these growths, India needs to look at additional transmission plans which can pep up the investment scenario, said Mr. Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Secretary, Ministry of Power.
The Secretary said this while speaking today at the CII National Conference on Transmission Lines on “Emerging Transmission Landscape- Opportunities and Technology Drivers”, organised jointly with Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL).
While the per capita consumption needs to increase further to have an increased demand, the country also needs to look at the intra-state transmission systems, the Secretary added. ‘For having more innovative models of investments with states, we need to create Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with them. Central Electricity Authority has already presented a five-year perspective plan which will help us for having desired investments’, he added.
Renewable Energy is one large specter where transmission planning needs to happen much before the project planning, the Secretary added.
Mr. I S Jha, Chairman & Managing Director, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. highlighted the contributions of the National Grid which has brought an enormous change in the transmission segment today, making India the second largest in the world in transmission systems. In the last five years, the National Power Grid has capitalized approximately INR 1,20,000 crore investments. There is still a huge scope for development with the intra-state mission coming up and the renewable energy becoming a major disruptor today, Mr. Jha added.
Mr. Manish Mohnot, Chairman, CII Transmission Line Division & MD & CEO, Kalpataru Power Transmission Ltd. presented some of the industry concerns and said, a definite transmission infrastructure build-up programme should be structured in lines with the roads and water ways programs like Bharat Mala and Sagar Mala