PowerGrid Corporation of India

PowerGrid Corporation Of India

Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID), (NSE: POWERGRID, BSE: 532898) is an Indian state-owned electric utilities company headquartered in Gurgaon, India. Power Grid wheels about 50% of the total power generated in India on its transmission network. Power Grid has a pan-India presence with around 95,329 Circuit-km of Transmission network and 156 EHVAC & HVDC sub-stations with a total transformation capacity of 138,673 MVA. The Inter-regional capacity is enhanced to 28,000 MW. Power Grid has also diversified into Telecom business and established a telecom network of more than 25,000 km across the country. Power Grid has consistently maintained the transmission system availability over 99.00% which is at par with the International Utilities.

In 1980 the Rajadhyaksha Committee on Power Sector Reforms submitted its report to the Government of India suggesting extensive reforms in the Indian power sector. Based on the recommendations of the Rajadhyaksha Committee, in 1981 the Government of India took the policy decision to form a national power grid which would pave the way for the integrated operation of the central and regional transmission systems. Pursuant to this decision to form a national power grid, PowerGrid was incorporated on October 23, 1989 under the companies Act, 1956 as the National Power Transmission Corporation Limited, with the responsibility of planning, executing, owning, operating and maintaining the high voltage transmission systems in the country. The Company received a certificate for commencement of business on November 8, 1990. Subsequently, the name of the Company was changed to Power Grid Corporation of India Limited with effect from October 23, 1992.

POWERGRID has enhanced the inter-regional capacity of National Grid to 28,000 MW. India is divided into 5 Regions - Northern Region (NR), Eastern Region (ER), Western Region (WR), Southern Region (SR), and North-East Region (NER). Out of all these Regions the NR, ER, WR, and NER are synchronized which is known as NEW Grid. Whereas SR is not synchronized with the rest of the regions with AC lines and hence could run on a slightly different frequency. SR is connected with WR and ER with HVDC links only. When PGCIL was formed then the responsibility of Regional Load Despatch Centres (RLDCs) was handed over to POWERGRID by Central Electricity Authority (CEA). On 25th February, 2009 the National Load Despatch Center (NLDC) was inaugurated. Now these Regional Load Despatch Centres (RLDCs) and National Load Despatch Center (NLDC) form a separate Organisation named POSOCO (Power system Operation Corporation), a wholly owned subsidiary of POWERGRID.