National Grid Improvement Project (formerly Powergrid)

POWERGRID's immediate investment plans focus on the transmission projects required to deliver electricity from 55 new IPP power generation plants to primary load centers. Known collectively as the high capacity power transmission corridors program, these projects include nine major transmission schemes approved by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) with an estimated total cost of more than $12.9 billion. The project proposed for ADB financing is the biggest of these transmission schemes and involves 14 IPPs and a public power trading company in Chhattisgarh. It will strengthen interregional transmission between the western and the northern regional grids and supply additional bulk power to the north from generation of IPPs in Chhattisgarh, which will generate over 15,000 MW in total. The project will create a high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system using smart grid technology to support stable, efficient, flexible, and economical long-distance power transfer among its interconnected systems. HVDC is a least-cost and low-carbon investment option.