Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) has targeted capital expenditure of over Rs.15,000 crore in ongoing fiscal year, FY25.
Addressing an investor conference in Mumbai recently, R.K. Tyagi, Chairman & Managing Director, PGCIL, said that though the official capex target for FY25 is around Rs.15,000 crore, the company’s actual capex in FY25 is likely to be in the region of Rs.17,000 crore, around $2 billion as expressed by the top official.
Of this targeted Rs.15,000 crore of capex in FY25, around Rs.5,000 crore will come from RTM (regulated tariff mechanism) projects while the remaining Rs.10,000 crore will be largely from tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) schemes.
In FY24, PGCIL undertook capex of Rs.12,500 crore as against the targeted Rs.8,800 crore. In FY23, according to information available with T&D India, PGCIL’s capex was Rs.9,212 crore. Incidentally, PGCIL’s capex target for FY23 also stood at Rs.8,800 crore. (See table)
In terms of capitalization, which loosely means commissioning of projects into commercial assets, PGCIL recorded an achievement of Rs.7,618 crore, slightly higher than the comparable Rs.7,413 crore in FY23.
According to the PGCIL CMD, the company has targeted to double its capitalization level in FY25, implying capitalization to be in the range of Rs.15,000 crore to Rs.16,000 crore.
Capex and capitalization discussed here are at the “consolidated” level, which means that it relates to PGCIL as well as its subsidiaries. In other words, it includes projects under the RTM route (that are implemented by PGCIL) as well as TBCB projects, which are developed by wholly-owned subsidiaries of PGCIL.
In recent history, PGCIL’s highest capex was seen in FY20, when it had touched Rs.15,313 crore. In terms of capitalization, FY21 was most productive when Rs.21,467 crore of assets turned commercial.
Assets commissioned
In FY24, PGCIL commissioned 4,036 ckm of new transmission lines, on “consolidated” basis. It also commissioned six substations with aggregate transformation capacity of 19,720 MVA. Speaking of TBCB projects, PGCIL commissioned five such in FY24 – three interstate transmission system (ISTS) schemes and two intrastate transmission system (InSTS) projects.
The ISTS-TBCB schemes were housed under Powergrid Ramgarh Transmission Ltd, Powergrid Bikaner Transmission System Ltd and Powergrid Neemuch Transmission System Ltd. The InSTS-TBCB projects commissioned in FY24 were: Powergrid Meerut Simbhavali Transmission Ltd and Powergrid Gomti Yamuna Transmission Ltd. Both the intrastate transmission projects are located in Uttar Pradesh.
It appears that much of the transmission infrastructure commissioned by PGCIL in FY24 was of the 400kV voltage class. However, an important 765kV element was the 765/400/220kV Meerut GIS substation commissioned in Uttar Pradesh, by Powergrid Meerut Simbhavali Transmission Ltd.
Asset base
As of March 31, 2024, PGCIL had a transmission network of 1,77,699 ckm spanning the entire nation. The company had 278 substations (including 18 HVDC and 62 of 765kV level) with aggregate transformation capacity of 5,27,446 MVA. PGCIL’s interregional transfer capacity stood at 99,580 MW, accounting for 83 per cent of India’s total.
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Featured photograph (source: PGCIL) is for representation only
