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PowerGrid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) expects a market opportunity of ₹50,000 crore for setting up Green Energy Evacuation Corridors in India by 2022.
“The centre has set a target to add 100 GW of solar power generation capacity in the grid. This will require an additional transmission capacity of at least 60,000 MW by 2022. These projects will be announced over the next two years and will cost nearly ₹50,000 crore,” IS Jha, Chairman and Managing Director, PGCIL, told BusinessLine on the sidelines of the second RE-invest conference. Jha said the transmission projects will be back in demand soon. He said: “For the past few years, addition of conventional power generation capacity has tapered, which has led to a slowdown in the demand for transmission projects. Now, the demand has started picking up from the renewable energy sector.”
Dominant player
“The immediate requirement from the transmission sector is to meet the demand from the renewable energy sector. But after another two years, there will be a rise in generation from conventional sectors and consequently, more demand for the transmissions sector,” Jha added.
PGCIL is the dominant power transmission player in India. Currently it has a market share of 98 per cent. Private sector players have alleged that this dominant position accords PGCIL an unfair advantage.
On these charges, Jha said:, “The projects nominated to PGCIL by the Centre are those which the private companies do not go for. PGCIL builds and competes for projects at the most competitive rate, driven by cheaper financing costs and operational expertise.”
Private players have also approached the PM’s Office and sought a reconstitution of the National Committee on Transmission to accord a level-playing field for them. The NCT has been tasked to constitute the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) for Tariff-Based Competitive Bidding Projects besides other mandates. In a representation to the Centre, industry bodies alleged that presence of the Chief Operating Officer of PGCIL on the NCT gives an unfair advantage to the Central transmission utility in the projects.
Jha denied these allegations and said the PGCIL official on the board is only to provide technical assistance. “There is no unfair advantage. The bid requirement details are announced well in advance and the PGCIL official on the NCT is for assuring technical assistance to the committee,” he said.
“We have not got any representation from the government on the same,” Jha added.
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