Indian power sector benefits from technological advancements of previous period

The Central Electricity Authority`s report revealed that India benefitted immensely from the technological advancement during the previous plan period.

According to the report, nine super critical technology units totaling 6,080 MW have been commissioned between FY 2007-08 and FY 2011-12. These include Adani, Mundra, Tata Mundra, Sipat, Jhajjhar, among others.

For the 12th plan period, 24,000 MW of supercritical plants have been targeted for commissioning.

One of the key areas of progress has been the extensive usage of gas insulated sub-stations of 400 kV and 765 kV levels, which has subsequently lead to reduced land requirement, which is down 50% to 60 acres from 120 acres for 765KV substation and 30 acres from 60 acres for 400KV substations.

Moreover, large number of 765 KV D/C lines have been constructed to enable large capacity transmission on the same right of way. This has significantly reduced the land requirement from 128 metres to 69 metres.

Furthermore, the world`s highest voltage line station of 1,200 kV transmission line, which was set up with indigenous technology, has been successfully tested.

The world`s longest 800 kV HVDC multi-terminal bi-pole link covering 2,000 km in length is currently under implementation. It connects Biswanath Chairali in the north eastern region to Agra in the western region.