Vijayawada: Southern Regional Power Committee (SRPC) chairman K. Vijayanand, also special chief secretary (Energy) of AP, has suggested that 400 kV Raigarh-Pugalur (RP) High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) line be utilised in reverse mode for achieving full capacity of 6,000 MW, instead of going for additional transmission system.
Chairing the SRPC meeting in Hyderabad on Friday, Vijayanand said even though the Raigarh-Pugalur-Trichur (RPT) HVDC transmission system has been planned and approved for only import of 3,000 MW, it could as well be deployed in the reverse mode and double the capacity to 6,000 MW. Power officials of Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry participated in the SRPC meeting, including TSNPDCL CMD K. Varun Reddy, KSEBL CMD and additional chief secretary Dr. Rajan N. Khobragade, POWERGRID chairman and managing director R.K. Tyagi, TANTRANSCO MD M. Ramachandran and PCKL MD V Krishnappa.
The meeting had been convened by Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) to discuss in detail the reverse power flow capacity of the Raigarh-Pugalur HVDC system, including the design of HVDC system, criteria of fixing 3,000 MW in reverse direction and other issues that may have significant commercial implication on the southern region states.
Vijayanand pointed out that the Inter State Transmission System ± 800 kV, 6,000 MW HVDC Raigarh-Pugalur link had been proposed for import of power into the southern region (SR) to meet the existing deficit. It came into service from September 2020 and is currently operating in forward mode (Western Region to Southern Region) 6,000 MW power flow and reverse mode (Southern Region to Western Region) 3,000 MW power flow.
The SRPC chairman said the Technical Coordination Sub-Committee of SRPC has recommended PGCIL to rope in OEM (Hitachi Energy India) for studying capacity enhancement of Raigarh-Pugalur HVDC system from 3,000 MW to 6,000 MW.
The meeting arrived at a consensus for a joint study by PGCIL and Hitachi and submission of the report in a month. A decision on the matter will be taken at the next SRPC meeting.
