In five years, Karnataka plans to add 35 GW transmission capacity

New Delhi: Karnataka is planning to add around 35 GW of transmission capacity in the next five years for which an investment of approximately ?60,000 crore will be required, Pankaj Kumar Pandey Managing Director Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation told ET.

Of the investment requirement, 40% will be made by the state, but the rest will go through tariff-based competitive bidding to build the projects, he said. "Currently, our transmission capacity is 30 GW and that will become almost 60-65 GW capacity in another five years," he said.

The state has a renewable energy installed capacity of around 23 GW and is among the top five states with green capacity, which brings a lot of intermittencies as well as congestion in the transmission system. "Those tenders will be called soon because the capacity needs to be added fast," Pandey said. The state is also focusing on 'distributed renewable energy', which lightens the burden of transmission lines addition, he added.

The state is also focusing on ‘distributed renewable energy’, which lightens the burden of transmission lines addition, he said, adding: “This congestion (in the transmission lines) will go away.”

Karnataka has prepared its resource adequacy plan for the next decade, which is mostly to add renewable energy in the state, based on which the transmission infrastructure augmentation plan has been made, the official said.

Karnataka Power Corporation is working on developing a coal-based power plant in Chhattisgarh and may go for a public-private partnership on it, Pandey said. “We will give some commitment for purchasing the power from this plant and may sell the rest in the market. That structuring is being discussed.”

This plant is the only state government-owned thermal power capacity that it intends to add, Pandey said, adding that the rest of new capacities will likely be from green power.