Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) plans to set up a stop gap evacuation facility for the first 800 MW unit of Tata Power's Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) in Mundra.
PGCIL is awaiting final forest clearance as well as right of way to set up the transmission link to evacuate power from the 4,000-MW UMPP, due for commissioning this September. Part of the transmission link passes through the Wild Ass Sanctuary in Kutch district.
The company proposes to utilise part of an existing line (Mundra-Limbdi and Bachau sub-station) to evacuate power till the time it gets final regulatory approval, sources said.
PowerGrid, which proposes to set up the 400-KV three double circuit transmission lines in Patan district to evacuate power from the Tata UMPP, had sought an additional forest land of 29.383 ha. The three transmission lines are between Mundra-Vadavi, Mundra-Limadi and Mundra-Jetpur.
PowerGrid has been asked by FAC to raise plantation in 59 hectares of degraded land as part of compensatory afforestation, one of the conditions for diversion of forest land. The final clearance would be granted once the compliance report on the conditions stipulated by FAC is submitted by the State authorities and the company to Environment Ministry, sources said. Issues relating to the right of way across patches in the Kutch region had earlier stymied the progress of the transmission links.