Alstom T&D India, subsidiary of France-based Alstom, is targeting grid projects to increase its contribution to the Group’s grid sales revenue from current 15 per cent, Grégoire Poux-Guillaume, Alstom Grid President, told Business Line in Paris.
India would see more High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission lines in the future, he said.
At present , Alstom’s total sales revenue from grid business is €4 billion (Rs 28,000 crore). Of this, India contributes €600 million (Rs 4,000 crore).
Paris-headquartered Alstom is a leading global player in power generation, transmission and railway infrastructure. The group’s total sales revenue from all businesses is around €20 billion. Out of this, India contributes more than €1 billion.
Guillaume said that India is the largest single market for Alstom’s grid business and it continues to grow. He did not disclose an exact sales revenue figure the company targets to garner from India.
“We are moving fast with latest technologies and HVDC is going to see a growth in India,” said Rathin Basu, Country President and Managing Director of Alstom T&D India. Currently, India has 12,000-13,000 MW of power transmitted through HVDC lines out of 205,000 MW of total installed capacity.
By 2020, HVDC lines are expected to transmit around 30,000-40,000 MW, Basu said.
HVDC helps to transport bulk electricity to longer distances with less transmission losses. “HVDC lines are generally used for transporting power for more than 800 km. Alstom’s technology helps to transmit power will losses of just around 3 per cent,” Basu said.
Alstom on Monday announced winning of Rs 2,500-crore turnkey contract to set up converter stations at Champa in Chhattisgarh and Kurukshetra in Haryana. This is part of the 3,000 MW transmission line being set up by PowerGrid between these two States.
The Alstom converter station would collect electricity generated by independent power producers in Chhattisgarh, convert it to DC from AC. The transmission line, built by another company, would transport this DC power to Kurukshetra where the Alstom converter would change it to AC. The power would finally be injected to the Northern Grid.
“This advanced HVDC system will meet the bulk power transfer requirement from Chhattisgarh region - a hub of Independent Power Producers of thermal power - to the load centre located in the northern region of the country, through a 1,365 km transmission line, creating an “energy highway” of clean, efficient power,” the company said in a statement.
(The correspondent is hosted by Alstom in Paris.)