Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has recently granted transmission licence to Bikaner-II Bhiwadi Transco Ltd, a project SPV of PGCIL.
In its order dated July 15, 2021, CERC granted transmission licence under Section 14 of the Electricity Act, 2003.
Bikaner-II Bhiwadi Transco Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PGCIL and a special purpose vehicle entrusted with development of “Transmission System Strengthening Scheme for Evacuation of Power from Solar Energy Zones in Rajasthan (8.1 GW) under Phase II-Part F”, on Build, Own, Operate and Maintain (BOOM) basis.
PGCIL had won this project under the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) mechanism when it quoted the winning bid of Rs.140.486 crore per year as levelized transmission charges.
The transmission project, involving several lines and substations, is expected to be commissioned by June 2022. Some of the key components of the projects include a 400kV switching station at Bikaner-II Pooling Station, a 400kV twin double-circuit line from Bikaner-II PS to the 400kV Khetri substation, four fixed line reactors, four 400kV line bays, etc.
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PGCIL wins all five so far
The overall scheme, officially known as “Transmission system strengthening scheme for evacuation of power from solar energy zones in Rajasthan (8.1 GW) under Phase-II” has several components, denoted as Part A, Part B, etc. Each part is to be developed by a project SPV, under the TBCB mode.
PGCIL has so far won the following five of these sub-components:
- Ramgarh New Transmission Ltd [Phase-II (Part A)]
- Fatehgarh Bhadla Transco Ltd [Phase-II (Part B)
- Sikar New Transmission Ltd [Phase-II (Part C)]
- Sikar-II Aligarh Transmission Ltd [Phase-II (Part D)]
- Bikaner-II Bhiwadi Transco Ltd [Phase-II (Part F)]
PGCIL has recorded various degrees of progress in the five projects. In each case, the project SPV has been acquired, in some others the transmission charges have been approved by CERC while in a few cases, CERC has granted the transmission licence.
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