The direct interconnection of North Eastern Region with National Grid will be a boost for hydro development in North East, Sikkim and Bhutan
Power Transmission Express Highway from North Eastern Region to Agra has been completed and power can flow in either direction, as per requirement,from September 22 2015.
The transmission systems are enabler for vibrant electricity market to transfer cheap power to deficit regions and development of renewable energy. The average per unit price of energy trading in the market has gone down to less than ` 3 per kWhr from the peak of `8 per kWhr few years back. The reduction in market price of energy has enabled merit order in operation of generators.
The policy framework has always advocated that the transmission system development should be ahead of generation and load growth to avoid congestion or bottling up of power.
For North Eastern Region 50,000MW Hydroelectric Initiative was launched by the then PM of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee in May, 2003. North Eastern Region together with Sikkim and Bhutan has a large hydro generation potential to the tune of 65,000MW. To harness this enormous hydro potential robust transmission infrastructure was needed for connecting NER with NR/WR and about 12-15 nos. of high capacity transmission corridors each of 5,000-6,000 MW capacity were envisaged keeping in view constraints of right of way in Chicken Neck Area.
Chicken Neck Area is a very narrow strip of land 22 km width x 18 km length near Siliguri north of West Bengal bordering Nepal on one side and Bangladesh on the other side with very thick habitation. After inclusion of the scheme by CEA in their Master Plan and National Electricity Plan for XII Plan, POWERGRID carried out detailed survey in Chicken Neck Area for optimisation of Right of Way through satellite imageries and GIS techniques.
Out of four feasible corridors in the Chicken Neck Area, one corridor was picked up for implementation by POWERGRID for NER development. This high capacity transmission link is the world’s largest multi - terminal ±800kV HVDC Project which comprises of 3000MW HVDC terminals each at Biswanath Chariyali & Alipurduar and a 6000 MW terminal at Agra. The 1750 km of HVDC line traverses through very difficult terrain in three regions, four states and crossing more than 40 rivers. This massive line consists of 7000 locations out of which more than 300 locations are on pile foundation. For implementation of this infrastructure, excavation of 22 lakh Cu.m, structure and reinforcement Steel of 2.7 lakh MT and RCC concreting of 3.2 lakh Cu.m were involved. This transmission link also includes 22,000 km of conductor and 20 lakh insulator discs. For building this transmission system, converter transformers have been developed in India through Technology Transfer under Make in India initiative.
Bringing this dream project into reality was not an easy task even for POWERGRID who enjoys a credit of building a large mesh of over one lakh km of transmission network crisscrossing the geography and demography of the country.
With the operation of this link, North East can get access to cheaper power from Chattisgarh/Jharkhand during low hydro generation and surplus hydro generation of North Eastern Region shall now find market in rest of India. The direct interconnection of North Eastern Region with National Grid will be a boost for hydro development in North East, Sikkim and Bhutan.
Inherent technical features of HVDC system shall enhance the security and stability of the grid. It would also help in reducing the transmission losses. HVDC terminals are like a floating generating plant and now can be considered as virtually placed either in North Eastern Region or Northern Region.