India has approved a major $7.34 billion (Rs. 688 billion) electricity transmission project to transport renewable energy from the country’s western regions to industrial and urban centres in the east.
According to Reuters, the project will establish a 1,150-kilovolt (kV) transmission network, making it India’s highest-voltage power system.
The project is expected to take approximately six years to complete.
The new network will carry significantly larger volumes of electricity than India’s existing 765-kV transmission lines, while reducing transmission losses and the amount of land required for power corridors.
The first phase will connect Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal, linking them to a 6,000-megawatt transmission system carrying renewable electricity from Rajasthan’s Bhadla solar region.
The project comes as India rapidly expands its renewable energy capacity, particularly solar power generation in western states such as Rajasthan.
India aims to achieve 500 gigawatts of non-fossil fuel electricity generation capacity by 2030, compared with more than 300 gigawatts currently.
The initiative is expected to strengthen India’s national electricity network, improve the distribution of clean energy and support growing industrial demand. (Newswire)