The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday (6 January) approved the scheme on Green Energy Corridor (GEC) Phase-II for Intra-State Transmission System (InSTS) for the addition of approximately 10,750 circuit kilometres (ckm) of transmission lines and 27,500 MegaVolt-Amperes (MVA) transformation capacity of substations.
The scheme will facilitate grid integration and power evacuation of approximately 20 GW of Renewable Energy (RE) power projects in seven states: Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
The scheme is targeted to be set up with a total estimated cost of Rs 12,031 crore and Central Financial Assistance (CFA) of 33 per cent of the project cost, i.e. Rs 3,970 crore.
The transmission systems will be created over five years from Financial Year 2021-22 to 2025-26.
“The Central Financial Assistance (CFA) will help in offsetting the Intra-State transmission charges and thus keep the power costs down. Thus, the Government support will ultimately benefit the end users — the citizens of India,” the official statement said.
Besides helping achieve the target of 450 GW installed RE capacity by 2030, the scheme will also contribute to long term energy security and promote ecologically sustainable growth by reducing carbon footprint.
This scheme is in addition to GEC phase-I, which is already under implementation in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu for grid integration and power evacuation of 24 GW of RE power and is expected to be completed by 2022.
The scheme is for the addition of 9,700 ckm of transmission lines and 22,600 MVA capacity of substations, having an estimated cost of Rs 10,141 crore with Central Financial Assistance (CFA) of Rs 4,056 crore.