Substation capacity addition in 4MFY27 meets two-thirds of target, PGCIL makes biggest contribution

Special Report

Venugopal Pillai
August 20, 2026

India’s transformation capacity addition during the first four months (4M: April to July) of FY27 was two-thirds of the planned quantum. Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL), with 16 GVA of new capacity, made the largest contribution to the national effort.

According to latest statistics released by Central Electricity Authority (CEA), India added 35,670 MVA of new transformation capacity (of 220kV or higher) during 4MFY27. This was around 66 per cent of the planned addition of 54,659 MVA.

Much of this addition related to 765kV substations with a total of 13,500 MVA commissioned at this voltage. The 440kV category saw 12,630 MVA added while 9,540 MVA was put on the 220kV side.

PGCIL commissioned 16,000 MVA of new transformation capacity, including 10,500 MVA at 765kV and 5,500 MVA on the 400kV side, accounting for nearly 45 per cent of the country’s total achievement in 4MFY27.

Thanks to the healthy addition on the 765kV and 400kV voltage classes, the interstate transmission system (ISTS) grid saw higher addition of transformation capacity than the intrastate counterpart. During 4MFY27, a total of 20,815 MVA was commissioned on the ISTS network, earning it a share of 58 per cent of the overall achievement.

On the ownership side, state government utilities did well to add 14,855 MVA of new transformation capacity during 4MFY27, with most of this relating to 220kV substations. The private sector contributed 4,815 MVA in 4MFY27, with nil achievement in July 2026.

PGCIL to boost addition

PGCIL is expected to continue making significant contribution to the nation’s transformation capacity addition. According to a study by tndindia.com, PGCIL is likely to add around 26,500 MVA of new transformation capacity during August and September 2026, through under-construction ISTS-TBCB schemes alone. Some such are: Powergrid Bikaner Neemrana Transmission Ltd, Powergrid Koppal Gadag Transmission Ltd, Powergrid Khavda IV-E2 Power Transmission Ltd and Powergrid Bhadla-III Power Transmission Ltd. All these schemes relate to RE evacuation and the substation capacity addition will be geographically located in RE-rich states like Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka.

For the full year FY27, PGCIL has targeted to commission 58,500 MVA of new substation capacity – a quantum that the Central PSU is likely to easily surpass, by current thinking.

Critical greenfield substations

In a recent report, Central Transmission Utility of India Ltd (CTUIL) has released a list of 24 critical greenfield substations (including switching stations) that are currently under construction through interstate-TBCB schemes. The report further suggests that some of these are lagging behind their original completion schedule. Some such cases are: Gadag-II (Phase A) pooling station, Koppal-II (Phase A) pooling station, Neemrana-II substation, Bidar substation and Dhule pooling station.

For FY27, India’s total substation capacity addition (of 220kV or higher) is projected at 1,58,339 MVA as against the actual achievement of 1,13,013 MVA in FY26. The FY26 addition was nearly 90 per cent of the target.