India Grid Trust (IndiGrid) has proposed to acquire the entire equity capital of Khargone Transmission Ltd (KTL) that owns an operational interstate transmission system.
In a stock exchange communication, IndiGrid said that it will be seeking the approval of its unit-holders through postal ballot, as a precursor to the proposed acquisition.
KTL, currently owned by Sterlite Power, has a paid up equity capital of Rs.1.56 crore and recorded a sales turnover of Rs.134.57 crore during FY22. The acquisition will be made at an enterprise value not exceeding Rs.1,497.50 crore, IndiGrid said.
“IndiGrid is to acquire in one or more tranches 100 per cent shareholding and management control in KTL subject to the terms of share purchase and other definitive agreements and requisite regulatory and other relevant approvals,” India Grid Trust, India’s first power sector infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) said in the filing.
KTL: A Background
Khargone Transmission Ltd was incorporated on November 28, 2015. KTL entered into a transmission service agreement (TSA) on March 14, 2016.
The project was awarded by the Ministry of Power for a 35-year period from the scheduled commercial operation date of the KTL project, on a BOOM basis. The project has 6 elements—one 765kV substation (at Khandwa), three transmission lines, one LILO and one line bay.
The ISTS transmission scheme, straddling Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, was envisaged with the objective to improve power supply and grid reliability by delivering 1,320 mw of thermal power from NTPC’s 2×660-mw Khargone power plant in Madhya Pradesh.
According to information available with T&D India, evacuation from the Khargone power plant is done first to the 765kV Khandwa substation, for further downstream transmission to across Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Goa, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.
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Final completion in January 2022
With an estimated total capital investment of Rs.1,662 crore, the Khargone transmission scheme was fully commissioned in January 2022 when the sixth and final element – the 765kV double-circuit line from Khandwa Pool to Dhule, running about 383 ckm – was put in operation. The earlier five elements, named below, were commissioned progressively during the period from February 2018 to April 2020.
- 765kV Khandwa substation (2×1500 MVA)
- 400kV double-circuit Khandwa-Khargone transmission line (around 50 ckm)
- 765kV double-circuit Khandwa-Indore transmission line (around 180 ckm)
- 400kV LILO of one circuit of 400kV double-circuit Khandwa-Rajgarh line at Khargone (13.5 ckm)
- Two 765kV line bays at Dhule
Featured photograph (source: Sterlite Power) shows an element of the Khargone transmission scheme.