Power Grid to strengthen its North-South transmission line

Power Grid Corporation of India Limited will invest about Rs 30,000 crore for augmenting its North-South transmission capacity, Union Minister of State for Power Piyush Goyal said.

Speaking to reporters after meeting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam at Chennai, the minister said the Centre was committed to support the power sector in Tamil Nadu, including the Power Grid’s project to increase transmission facilities from the north to southern states. This would make sure that the growing need of power in the next few years is sufficiently met.

Within three years, these projects would start taking shape, said the Union minister, and they will help to evacuate power to southern states and the main beneficiary would be Tamil Nadu.

He said on state’s demand for additional allocation from the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, the Centre has agreed to give 100 Mw additional unallocated power from the plant’s Unit II, which is expected to go on commercial production soon.

The minister said for the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana for rural India, particularly for farmers, the Centre will give assistance to the tune of around Rs 1,000 crore to Tamil Nadu, which is among the first states to benefit from the scheme.

Also, for the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), which is for urban areas, the Centre would approve nine towns at an investment of nearly Rs 363 crore.

He added the finance commission had approved Rs 1,051-crore assistance to Tamil Nadu for the renewable energy projects. In March, the government is expected to release the fund to the state.

The state government has installed capacity of over 8,000 Mw in renewable energy.

Today Tamil Nadu has installed capacity of over 8,000 mega watt (MW) in renewable energy, predominately wind.

Source: Business Standard