Powerlinks completes Bly-Mandola phase of Tala project

Mumbai, Apr 4 (UNI) Powerlinks Transmission today announced the completion of the Bareilly-Mandola (Uttar Pradesh) portion of Tala transmission project, three months ahead of its scheduled completion in June.

Since the enactment of the Electricity Act, the Tala transmission project is India's first inter-State transmission project, with public-private partnership.

Incidentally, Powerlinks Transmission Limited is a joint venture (JV) of Tata Power and Power Grid Corporation of India.

The Tala project involved construction of 1,200 km of 400 kv transmission lines from the Tala hydro project, Bhutan to Delhi region, to get 1,020 MW of power from Bhutan and transmit it to the power deficit States in North India, while also facilitating the transmission of surplus power from the North-Eastern region.

With the completion of Bareilly-Mandola DC line, a parallel 400 kv corridor would be available from Unnao-Kanpur-Lucknow area to Delhi, resulting in strengthening of East-North corridor and improving system strength, a release issued here said.

The line would carry about 400 MW power, resulting in reduction of load on other existing lines in this corridor.

On the occasion, Power Grid Corporation Chairman and Managing Director R P Singh said, ''This transmission system will form a very important element of our national grid. This model is an excellent example of public-private partnership and has the potential to be replicated in future projects, not only in India but abroad as well.'' Tata Power Company Director Adi Engineer said, ''This JM marks a historic milestone for the country in public-private initiative towards meeting the power supply needs of the country. The agreement marks a successful trend and offers hope for more such joint initiatives for the power sector in future.'' The project was set up with a total investment of about Rs 1,600 crore and a debt-equity ratio of 70:30. To reduce the ever-increasing gap between electricity demand and generation, the Government of India allowed private sector participation in power transmission.

Powerlinks Transmission Limited is implementing the transmission system project on build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) basis.

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