Four bidders have qualified for opening of initial price bids for what would be India’s third HVDC-based interstate transmission scheme to be awarded under the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) framework.
Bid process coordinator PFC Consulting Ltd (PFCCL) recently qualified four bidders for opening of initial price bids for this interstate transmission system (ISTS) scheme housed under “KPS III HVDC Transmission Ltd.”
The shortlisted bidders are Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL), Adani Energy Solutions Ltd (AESL), Resonia Ltd and IndiGrid, These bidders will now move on to the e-reverse auction (e-RA) stage where the discovery of the final price bid will take place.
It may be noted that IndiGrid participated in this scheme through its majority subsidiary “Enerica Infra I Pvt Ltd” in which IndiGrid’s currently held 70 per cent equity stake will be eventually enhanced to 100 per cent.
The ISTS scheme in question is officially termed as “Transmission system for evacuation of power from potential renewable energy zone in Khavda area of Gujarat under Phase-V (8 GW): Part C” and is expected to cost Rs.12,000 crore as per estimates made by the National Committee on Transmission (NCT) at the time of project approval, in June 2023.
The scheme was in the bidding stage since August 2024 and has seen at least 25 extensions in bid submission dates, arising out of various factors including changes in technical parameters, minimum local content (MLC) norms, etc.
Project elements
The project, with a completion timeframe of 48 months (four years) mainly envisages two HVDC (VSC-based) terminals of ±500kV – one near Khavda Pooling Station–3 (KPS3) and the other at South Olpad, both in Gujarat. The two will be linked by an HVDC bipole link with running length of 600 km and transfer capacity of 2,500 MW.
Third HVDC scheme under TBCB
The scheme will be the third HVDC-based interstate transmission system (ISTS) scheme to be awarded under the TBCB framework. India’s very first interstate HVDC scheme under TBCB was won by PGCIL in November 2024. A few months later, in January 2025, AESL went on to win the second such scheme in January 2025, also making it the first ISTS-TBCB scheme with HVDC infrastructure, to be awarded to a private entity.
Tariff-based bidding for another HVDC-based ISTS scheme – a ±800kV Barmer (Rajasthan) to South Kalamb (Maharashtra) HVDC link with transfer capacity 6,000 MW — is likely to be initiated in the second half of FY26.
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Featured photograph (source: Adani Energy Solutions Ltd) is for representation only