The Committee of Directors on Investment on Projects of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) has approved investment in the Thrissur HVDC station augmentation project in Kerala.
In a brief stock exchange filing, PGCIL said that the said committee, in its meeting held on January 30, 2026, considered and approved the proposal for implementation of “Augmentation of 1×500 MVA, 400/220kV ICT (3rd) at Thrissur VSC HVDC Station in Kerala”, at an estimated cost of Rs.173.14 crore.
The project, to be implemented by PGCIL under the regulated tariff mechanism (RTM) mode, is scheduled to commission by August 21, 2027.
The Thrissur HVDC station is part of the ±320kV, 2000 MW Pugalur-Thrissur HVDC line, which in turn, is an extended component of the ±800kV, 6000 MW Raigarh – Pugalur HVDC link running from Chhattisgarh to Tamil Nadu.
Project rationale
The project was approved by the National Committee on Transmission (NCT) in August this year after NCT was informed of ICTs at various interstate and intrastate system substations in Kerala being heavily loaded and not meeting “N-1” contingency criteria.
The augmentation of the Thrissur HVDC station is a step in the direction of mitigating this overloading.
It may be mentioned that the peak demand of the Kerala grid system had touched 6,000 MW on May 2, 2024. The Southern Region Load Dispatch Centre (SRLDC) had also observed high loading on the interconnecting transformers (ICT) at Kozhikode and Thrissur HVDC during the peak demand season of 2023-24.
Project elements
Apart from putting up a 500 MVA, 400/220kV ICT at the Thrissur HVDC station, which will be the third such at the station, two lines bays of 220kV will also be commissioned. The project will also entail tertiary 33kV power supply and associated ICT bays. Besides, the 220kV GIS hall associated with the HVDC station will be extended to accommodate six 220kV bays – two 220kV ICT bays and two 220kV line bays – and associated 220kV bus sectionalizer.
Implementation timeframe
Following NCT’s approval to the project on August 12, 2025, Central Transmission Utility of India Ltd (CTUIL) approved and assigned the project to PGCIL under the RTM route on August 21, 2025. The completion timeframe was set at 24 months from the date of approval, which works out to August 21, 2027. The scheme was then envisaged to cost Rs.164 crore, which has now risen to Rs.173.14 crore.
De-linking of Raigarh-Pugalur HVDC scheme component
The NCT, while approving the Thrissur HVDC station augmentation project in August 2025, also approved the de-linking of one component of the Raigarh-Pugalur HVDC scheme. (Read tndndia.com story dated September 3, 2025 for more details)
Featured photograph (source: Siemens Energy) is for representation only