Strengthening of the southern grid is expected to attract an investment of about $97 million and is scheduled to be commissioned during the next 36 months. About $220 million will be spent on the western grid projects that are likely to be commissioned in three years.
A significant part of the total investments will be used in enhancing the northern grid transmission network at an estimated cost of more than $740 million. The northern grid projects are expected to be commissioned within 33 to 36 months. These include the development of a transmission system of 765 kilovolts (kV) for the northern grid at a cost of $274 million.
The $1 billion of investments approved by the board are in line with PGCIL's plan to invest $11.5 billion during the current Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-12). PGCIL, a Navratna public sector undertaking, recently commissioned a 400-kV transmission line between Ranchi in Jharkhand and Sipat in Chhattisgarh to increase the power transfer capacity by 1,200 megawatts (MW) between the western and eastern regions. The power-transmission utility also enhanced the power transfer capacity by 500 MW between the northern and eastern regions.
As part of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, PGCIL is targeting a total interregional transfer capacity of more than 37,000 MW for the national grid system. The firm currently operates 116 substations and a network of 69,500 circuit kilometers of transmission lines with a combined capacity of 77,200 megavolt-amperes across five regional load dispatch centers in the country.