26 August, 2011

Soon India’s power sector will witness a new era in the transmission segment when Power Grid Corp will launch a 1,200-Kv ultra-high voltage (UHV) test station along with experimental lines in Bina, Madhya Pradesh.

The investment for the project is estimated at Rs 800 crore. The company is also setting up a 1,200-Kv transmission line for commercial purpose, which will be constructed between Wardha and Aurangabad in Maharashtra.

Till now, the power is transmitted on 765Kv /800Kv lines. The existing 400Kv line can transfer about 600 Mw power, 800Kv line can do between 1,200 Mw and 2,400 Mw and 1,200-Kv transfer 6,000-8,000 Mw.

With the government’s plan of adding over 100,000 Mw capacity in the coming 12th Plan coupled with the challenges put up by environment hurdles, right of way and transmission losses, there is a need to develop a more sound transmission system.

About 35 manufacturers, including BHEL, Areva, Siemens and Sterlite have joined hands with PowerGrid to establish the 1,200kV test station. The test line in Bina is being constructed with two 1200kV test bays in which the leading manufacturers are providing main equipment such as transformers, surge arresters, circuit breakers, transformers among others. These test bays and test lines shall be used for various field trials initially.

The first 1,200kV system field was tested and commissioned in the former Soviet Union in 1985 after 12 years of research, which was discontinued after the disintegration of the Union. Then, Japan started developing a 1,000kV UHV system and tests are still on. China started developmental work on a 1,100 kV UHV system in 2005 and a pilot project is presently under testing.