The Union government on January 6 approved an Rs. 12,031 crore plan to build more than 10,000 kilometers of intra-state transmission lines and substations. This amount got its approval from the CCEA (Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs). This will be built for the feeding of renewable energy which is produced by seven states into the national grid.
The central government will provide Rs. 3970 crore or 33 percent of the project costs. These will be allocated to the scheme that aims to prepare the nation’s electricity network handling 450 GW of green energy which is planned by the government by the year 2030.
This assistance by the government will aid to keep tariffs down for consumers by counterbalancing the state transmission charges. This transmission network, plus the substations, is estimated to evacuate 20 GigaWatts (GW) of renewable energy from the states of Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
The transmission system is expected to be built over the next five years starting from 2021-22 and will go up to the financial year of 2025-26. This is the scheme that was introduced to contribute to the long-term energy security of the nation. The government said in a statement said that it will also help in promoting ecologically sustainable growth by helping in the reduction of carbon footprint. This project will in turn help in generating a large amount of direct and indirect employment opportunities for the skilled and unskilled labor force in power and other related industries of the country.
This scheme is the 2nd phase in the green energy corridor project. The first phase is under implementation in the states of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu for the evacuation and grid evacuation of about 24 GigaWatts (GW) of green power. This phase is estimated to be finished by the end of 2022. 9700 kilometers of transmission lines and substations are being built under the first phase at an estimated cost of Rs. 10,141 crore. The central government is also aiding the project by providing Rs. 4056 crore as assistance.
This approval for the second phase of the green energy corridor will help India in meeting its climate commitments. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pledged in the summit that was held in Glasgow to increase India’s non-fossil fuel power generation capacity to 500 GigaWatts and to meet India’s 50 percent of energy requirements from renewable sources possibly by the end of this decade. This decision will help in promoting economically sustainable growth.
