New transmission corridor to evacuate power from Gadarwara-II, Mandsaur RE
The Western Regional Power Committee (WRPC) has recommended two Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) schemes, each costing more than Rs 500 crore, to strengthen the grid and facilitate power evacuation from upcoming thermal and renewable energy projects in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
The first scheme will support power evacuation from NTPC’s 2×800 MW Gadarwara-II Thermal Power Station and an additional 1,500 MW of renewable energy capacity planned at the Mandsaur substation.
The transmission configuration was revised after joint studies conducted on January 15-16, 2026 identified that fault levels at Jabalpur Pooling Station and Gadarwara Thermal Power Station-I were exceeding design limits. The proposed system is also intended to prevent overloading of the existing Gadarwara-Jabalpur and Gadarwara-Warora Pooling Station 765 kV transmission lines, reduce loading on the Kurawar-Bhopal 765 kV single-circuit line, and enable evacuation of up to 6 GW of renewable energy from the Mandsaur pooling station.
The scheme has an implementation period of 36 months from approval by the National Committee on Transmission (NCT), with commissioning targeted for December 2029. NTPC requested the Central Transmission Utility of India Limited (CTUIL) to align the transmission schedule with the planned commissioning of the Gadarwara-II project in September 2029.
Dharamjaigarh augmentation
The second scheme involves the installation of three 1,500 MVA interconnecting transformers (ICTs) on Bus Section-B at the Dharamjaigarh substation in Chhattisgarh at an estimated cost of Rs 657.11 crore.
The augmentation will facilitate power injection from Korba Power Limited’s 2×800 MW thermal power project and Jindal Green PSP 1 Private Limited’s 2×600 MW pumped storage project.
The ICTs required for the Korba Power project are scheduled for commissioning by November 1, 2028, while the augmentation for the pumped storage project is targeted for April 1, 2031.
During the meeting, the Member Secretary, WRPC observed that the first scheme had been approved by the Central Monitoring and Empowered Transmission System (CMETS) without clarity on its cost implications, as CTUIL had indicated that cost estimates were still being finalised.
CTUIL informed the committee that project costs are determined through a structured process involving a dedicated cost committee. The Member Secretary requested that future CMETS meetings include indicative project costs while considering transmission schemes.
The featured photograph is for representation only.
