Seven entities have submitted
their financial bids for building
the Rs.1,300-crore Vemagiri
transmission system (Package A)
in Andhra Pradesh. Nodal agency
Rural Electrification Corporation is
expected to finalise the developer by
mid-March 2012, a senior REC official
told Electrical Monitor over phone.
REC Transmission Projects Company
Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rural
Electrification Corporation Ltd, is
acting as the bid process coordinator for
selecting the transmission service
provider to establish and run the 765kV
transmission system, under the BOOM
model. For the Vemagiri Package A
project, the transmission service
provider (TSP) will be a shell company
called Vemagiri Transmission System
Ltd, whose ownership will be
transferred to the selected developer.
Those in the fray include Power Grid
Corporation of India, Larsen & Toubro,
Sterlite Grid, IVRCL Infrastructures,
NCC Infrastructure Holding, a
consortium of Ind-Bharat Power Infra
and Megha Engineering, and a
consortium of KEC International and
Spanish company Elecnor.
No cap on bidders |
There is no proposal to impose a cap
on the number of private
transmission projects that a single
developer wins, the REC official said.
He was replying to a question on
whether nodal agencies like PFC and
REC were considering imposing a
ceiling on the number of projects, on
lines of the ultra mega power project
series. It may be mentioned that the
power ministry has decided to restrict
the number of UMPPs that a single
developer can win to three. So far, four
UMPPs have been awarded out of
which three have gone to Reliance
Power (Anil Ambani Group). The REC
official said that there was no need to
impose such caps on power
transmission projects, as they are
much smaller in terms of investment
and complexity than power generation
projects. A typical transmission
project would cost Rs.750 crore
whereas an UMPP would need an
investment of not less than Rs.20,000
crore, the official said. |
The proposed Vemagiri
transmission system aims at creating
power evacuation infrastructure
associated with a series of gas-fired
power plants coming up in the area.
The project (referred to as "Vemagiri
Area - Package A") involves setting up
of one 765kV line from the Vemagiri
pooling station to Khammam, and
another 765kV line from Khammam
to Hyderabad. The lines will be
initially charged at 400kV.
Currently, four independent power
producer (IPP) projects aggregating
5,400 mw of capacity are coming up in
the Vemagiri area, all to be fed through
gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin.
Long term agreements for gas supply
have already been entered for 5,100 mw
of capacity. The Vemagiri (Package A)
project will facilitate the transfer of
power to the southern region.
The senior official elaborated that
REC will also be the nodal agency for
two more associated packages (B and C)
that will be developed using the same
tariff-based bidding route. Package B,
identical to Package A, will involve
setting up of the second 765kV line from
the Vemagiri pooling station to
Khammam, and the second 765kV line
from Khammam to Hyderabad. Package
B will thus supplement the objective of
Package A in moving power from
Vemagiri to the southern region.
Under Package C, one 765kV line will
developed from Hyderabad to Wardha
(Maharashtra) going up to the Jabalpur
pooling station in Madhya Pradesh.
This will help power evacuation from
the Vemagiri pooling station to the
western region of India. It is estimated
that 1,230 mw of power will be
transmitted from the Vemagiri area to
the western region.
In an independent development,
Power Finance Corporation had
reportedly received five bids for
developing the transmission system
associated with IPPs of Nagapattinam
and Cuddalore area (Package A). The
Rs.1,025-crore project consists of a
250-km 765kV D/C line from
Nagapattinam Pooling Station to
Salem, and another 250-km single circuit
line from Salem to Madhugiri.
The project will be implemented on
BOOM basis, with an estimated
investment of Rs.1,025 crore. There
were 18 entities that had qualified to
receive the requests for proposal.
Between the two, PFC and REC have
so far awarded six lines to be developed
with private sector participation. In
terms of number of projects, Sterlite
Grid Ltd has been the most successful
winning three.
Untitled Document
Ultra-mega power transmission projects awarded |
Month |
SPV |
Agency |
kV |
Rs.crore |
km |
Developer |
May 2010 |
North Karanpura Transmission Co Ltd |
REC |
400 |
2,700 |
1,045 |
Reliance Power Transmission |
Apr 2010 |
Talcher-II Transmission Co Ltd |
REC |
400 |
1,400 |
592 |
Reliance Power Transmission |
Jan 2011 |
Raichur Sholapur Transmission Co Ltd |
REC |
765 |
300 |
210 |
Patel+Simplex+BS Transcomm* |
Oct 2009 |
East North Interconnection Co Ltd |
PFC |
400 |
800 |
450 |
Sterlite Technologies |
Feb 2011 |
Bhopal Dhule Transmission Co Ltd |
PFC |
765 |
900 |
1,000 |
Sterlite Technologies |
Jan 2011 |
Jabalpur Transmission Co Ltd |
PFC |
765 |
1,300 |
635 |
Sterlite Technologies |
*Patel Engineering, Simplex Infrastructures, BS Transcomm |