Bid process coordinator PFC Consulting Ltd (PFCCL) has incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary that will act as a special purpose vehicle to develop an intrastate scheme in Maharashtra, under the TBCB framework.
In a stock exchange filing, Power Finance Corporation, the holding company of PFCCL, informed that “Saswad Transmission Ltd” has been incorporated that will act as a project SPV for an intrastate scheme in Maharashtra termed as “Establishment of 400/200kV Saswad AIS (Dist: Pune).”
In April 2025, state transmission utility Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (MSETCL) mandated PFCCL to act as the bid process coordinator for this intrastate scheme, the developer of which will be selected under the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) mechanism.
Project details
This intrastate scheme involves development of a new 2×500 MVA, 400/220kV air-insulated substation (AIS) at Saswad in Pune district of Maharashtra. Saswad will be linked to the upcoming 765kV Pune-III (GIS) substation as well as existing MSETCL substations such as the 220kV Theur and the 220kV Nanded City substations. There will also be LILOs that will interconnect Saswad with the existing 400kV Lonikand-I, 400kV Koyna, 220kV Phursungi and the 220kV Jejuri substations of MSETCL.
Schedule
The project is currently under bidding and by current timelines, PFCCL is expect to open technical bids on July 28, 2025 and the initial price bids of technically qualified bidders on August 8, 2025. The formal transfer of “Saswad Transmission Ltd” to the successful bidder is scheduled for August 29, 2025, by current thinking.
Long-term customers
According to the bid documents, the Saswad Transmission project will have 19 long-term transmission customers that will feature in the formal transmission service agreement (TSA). However, the three biggest customers will be state discom Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) with a share of 84.31 per cent, followed by Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd (AEML) with 6.55 per cent and Tata Power Company – Distribution (TPC-D) with 3.56 per cent.
TBCB in Maharashtra
Maharashtra is actively pursuing the TBCB modality for development of its intrastate grid. According to information available with T&D India, there are at least eight such schemes for which bidder selection is currently underway. While PFCCL is handling five schemes, the remaining three have REC Power Development & Consultancy Ltd (RECPDCL) as the bid process coordinator.
The five schemes being handled by PFCCL are housed under:
- NES Pune East New Transmission Ltd
- NES Navi Mumbai Transmission Ltd
- NES Dharashiv Transmission Ltd
- Wagdari Transmission Ltd
- Saswad Transmission Ltd
Featured photograph (source: Linxon) is for representation only
