Power Ministry clears Leh-Kaithal green energy transmission corridor

|New Delhi : The project will provide 76 per cent utilisation of transmission capacity and will help evacuate 13 GW of RE generation
The Power Ministry has cleared the proposal to lay power transmission link for evacuating renewable energy (RE) from Ladakh as part of the green energy corridor. The proposal allows for setting up of a 5 gigawatt (GW ) transmission link from Pang (Leh) to Kaithal (Haryana). The project, which also includes 12 GWh of battery energy storage system (BESS), is to be completed in five years. The estimated project cost is around Rs 27,000 crore. State-run transmission giant Power Grid is the implementing agency for the project. The scheme is under the regulated tariff mechanism (RTM). The proposal was cleared by the National Committee on Transmission (NCT) on January 3, 2022. The project will provide 76 per cent utilisation of transmission capacity and will help evacuate 13 GW of RE generation (9 GWp of solar and 4 GW of wind). Out of 12 GWh battery energy storage, about 1-2 GWh will be developed as part of transmission element to keep the line charged during the period of no generation, while the remaining battery energy storage would be developed as part of generation element. Besides the transmission corridor and battery storage systems, Power Grid will strengthen the AC system in Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir to provide RE power within Ladakh as well as to Jammu & Kashmir. The 5 GW transmission corridor (HVDC) from Pang to Kaithal will include two circuits of 2,500 megawatt (MW) each keeping in view techno-economics considerations. In case of an outage on one circuit, 2,500 MW power will have to be curtailed during peak RE/solar conditions, if adequate BESS capacity is not available during such conditions, a Power Grid official said. In November last year, Power and Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh had reviewed the implementation of the 10 GW RE project along with its evacuation plan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced setting up of a 7.5 GW solar Park in Ladakh, which was subsequently enhanced to 10 GW. For setting up of RE projects, around 20,000 acres of land at Pang is being provided by the union territory of Ladakh, while availability of additional 20,000 acres of land at Pang would be explored based on inputs provided by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). Ladakh will receive revenue annually for leasing the land for the RE project.