Govt unveils plan to set up transmission system to achieve 500 GW non-fossil fuel-based capacity

Representative image

Union Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh on December 7 unveiled a transmission system plan to achieve the country's goal of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based installed capacity by 2030.

“This plan will dispel any doubts, if there were any, that we aim to achieve the target. This is a statement to everybody that we shall achieve our target of 50 percent of our capacity coming from non-fossils by 2030 and in fact, we shall achieve it before time,” Singh said in a statement.

According to the plan, the transmission systems include 8120 ckm (circuit kilometre) of High Voltage Direct Current Transmission corridors (+800 kV and +350 kV), 25,960 ckm of 765 kV ac lines, 15,758 ckm of 400 kV lines and 1052 ckm of 220 kV cable at an estimated cost of Rs 2.44 lakh crore.

The plan envisages a battery energy storage capacity of 51.5 GW by 2030 to provide round-the-clock power to end consumers.

“We have already added some manufacturing capacity in storage and we are going to add more manufacturing capacity. We are going to add huge capacities on pumped hydro,” Singh said.

“Without storage, energy transition would not go beyond a point. You won’t have round-the-clock energy unless we have storage,” the minister added.

The plan also includes a transmission system for the evacuation of 10 GW off-shore wind located in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu at an estimated cost of Rs 0.28 lakh crore.

With the proposed transmission system, the inter-regional capacity will increase to about 1.50 lakh MW by 2030 from 1.12 lakh MW at present, the central government said in the statement.

The plan, constituted by a committee under the chairperson of Central Electricity Authority, identified upcoming non-fossil fuel-based generation centres in India including Fatehgarh, Bhadla, Bikaner in Rajasthan, Khavda in Gujarat, Anantapur, Kurnool RE Zones in Andhra Pradesh, offshore wind potentials in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, and RE park in Ladakh.

At present, the installed electricity generating capacity is 409 GW in India comprising 173 GW from non-fossil fuel sources, which is about 42 percent of the total installed electricity generating capacity.