With the commissioning of the Raichur – Solapur 765 KV single circuit transmission line on December 31st, 2013, the Indian power system is now one of the largest operating synchronous grids in the world.
The Indian power system operates through five regional grids. A pan India synchronous grid had been envisaged for optimal utilization of the generation resources. Till now, four regional grids namely Northern, Eastern, Western and North-Eastern (NEW grid) were connected synchronously. The Southern region was connected to the NEW grid through High Voltage Direct Current link.
The high capacity Raichur – Solapur transmission line synchronously interconnects the Southern region with the NEW grid, thereby leading to the establishment of an all India synchronous national grid which will facilitate bulk transfer of power across regional boundaries. The line of 208 circuit km. with 765/400 KV sub-stations at Raichur and Solapur has been commissioned five months ahead of schedule at a cost of approximately Rs. 815 crore.
According to Shailendra Dubey, Secretary General of the All India Power Engineers Federation, the synchronous integration of the Southern grid with rest of the national power grid has made the Indian power system one of the largest operating synchronous grids in the world having installed power generation capacity of 232 GW. The interconnection will not only augment the inter-regional power transfer capacity of the Southern region but also relieve the congestion experienced in few transmission corridors, he said.
The flow of power over the line is expected to stabilize over the next few months.
