The Ministry of Power has proposed that the sum of Rs. 200 crore allocated in the current financial year to aid the Delhi government in carrying out power sector reforms be used for improvement of the transmission infrastructure in the capital.
The objective behind the proposal is to minimize the impact of power outages, particularly the kind faced by the city this summer season due to inadequate transmission infrastructure.
The transmission system of Delhi (220 kV and above) comes under Delhi Transco Ltd. which has 400 kV transmission lines of 249 ckt.km, 220 kV lines of 716 ckt.km and transformation capacity of 6,670 MVA at 400 kV and 9,680 MVA at 220 kV level.
Delhi has a peak load demand of 5,925 MW, met from its own generation as well as share from various Inter State Generating Stations. The load demand in the city is estimated to grow at 7 percent per annum reaching 6,785 MW by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan period.
To meet the capital’s projected load demand with reliability, a comprehensive plan covering the 12th and 13th Plan periods has been prepared by the Central Electricity Authority for strengthening the transmission network. The cost of implementing the various transmission schemes identified under the 12th Plan period totals Rs. 4,143 crore. Out of the total cost, schemes of Rs. 1,270 crore are proposed to be implemented as Inter-State Transmission System; Rs. 1,121 crore through State Tariff based Competitive Bidding; Rs. 694 crore by DTL and Rs. 1,058 crore through Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. on deposit work basis.
The plan prepared by CEA for strengthening the transmission network includes some projects that have been identified by DTL for completion on priority basis to meet the capital’s projected peak load demand of 6,000 MW in 2015. These include replacement of the 2 x 315 MVA ICTs with 2 x 500 MVA at Bamnoli costing Rs. 30 crore, HTLS re-conductoring of D/C Geeta Colony ‐ Wazirabad of 2 x 6 km. line length costing Rs. 20 crore and 220 kV D/C Harsh Vihar‐ Patparganj UG+OH line of 2 x 16 km. line length costing Rs. 180 crore. The projects are proposed to be implemented through PGCIL on deposit work basis. The total estimated cost of Rs. 230 crore includes consultancy charges at the rate of 12 percent of the project cost payable to PGCIL.
The Ministry of Power has sought investment expenditure approval from the Expenditure Finance Committee for the Delhi transmission system improvement project aimed at strengthening the intra-state transmission system with central funding (through Ministry of Power budget) of Rs. 200 crore for FY 2014-15. The grant of Rs. 200 crore from the Ministry of Power will be utilized for undertaking the three transmission elements identified by DTL for completion on priority basis. The additional expenditure has to be met by DTL from its own resources. The projects will be implemented within eight months after release of funds from the Ministry of Power.
In addition to the grant of Rs. 200 crore from the Ministry of Power in the current financial year, the Delhi government has made a budgetary allocation of Rs. 220 crore in FY 2014-15 for providing loans to DTL projects. In order to further strengthen the capital’s transmission network as per the CEA plan, a loan of Rs. 1,332 crore is proposed to be taken from Power Finance Corporation Ltd. In-principle, PFC has agreed to provide long term financial assistance up to Rs. 1,100 crore for setting up new transmission facilities and augmenting existing transmission facilities during the FY 2014-15 to 2016-17. The balance requirement for funds will be met through grants and loans from the Delhi government and the Centre in FY 2015-16 and 2016-17.
