The Adani Group on Friday dedicated to the nation India’s first private sector high voltage direct current (HVDC) power transmission system, providing coal-fired thermal electricity generated at Adani Power Ltd’s (APL) Mundra facility in Gujarat to Mohindergarh in Haryana, a distance of 1,000 km.
APL said it has commissioned the 500 kiloVolt (kV) system that has a 2,500 megawatt (MW) of transmission capacity. The transmission line, completed in 24 months, passes through Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana and will start power supply to Haryana soon.
APL will evacuate thermal electricity via a 400 kV, 430-km-long transmission line, the longest dedicated transmission line developed by India’s private sector, from Mundra to Dehgam (Gujarat), from where power will be transmitted via the HVDC double circuit transmission line to Mohindergarh.
APL is also developing a dedicated 50-km 400 kV Mohindergarh-Bhivani transmission line for supply of power to the Haryana Power Generation Corporation Ltd (HPGCL), a company official told Business Line.
On an average, laying of one-km-long transmission line costs around Rs 5 lakh. Thus, the company invested nearly Rs 50 crore on the HVDC line. Besides, Adani Power Maharashtra Ltd (APML), a subsidiary of APL, is developing a 221-km, 400 kV Tiroda-Warora transmission line as an intra-state transmission licensee to evacuate power from APML’s Tiroda power project.
APL, having a target to generate 20,000 MW by 2020, is currently implementing 16,500 MW of power generation projects. At various stages of implementation are its projects at Mundra (4,620 MW), Bhadreshwar (3,300 MW) and Dahej (2,640 MW) – all in Gujarat – Tiroda (3,300 MW) in Maharashtra, Kawai (1,320 MW) in Rajasthan and Chhindwara (1,320 MW) in Madhya Pradesh.
The company had synchronized the first supercritical thermal power unit of 660 MW at Mundra in December 2010. APL's Mundra facility comprises five units of 660 MW (total: 3,300 MW) and four units of 330 MW (1,320 MW). All five supercritical units of 660 MW have been designed according to the energy efficient and environment-friendly supercritical technology, an official said.
APL had entered into long-term (25 years) power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the State electricity utilities for supplying a total of 7,144 MW. They included Gujarat (2,000 MW), Haryana (1,424 MW), Maharashtra (2,520 MW) and Rajasthan (1,200 MW). However, due to sharp increase in coal prices, the company is making efforts to have these PPAs revised.