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PowerGrid to teach U.S. how to handle power
By siliconindia staff writer
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Tuesday, 28 October 2003, 20:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) plans to set up a pilot transmission project in the US. It is estimated the proposed transmission project would involve an investment of about $250 million.
A high-level PGCIL team was recently in the US to negotiate a financial transaction from the IFC, the private lending arm of the World Bank. Unlike in India, transmission in the US is done on a cooperative basis. Stakeholders like the generators, distributors and transmission companies manage the transmission and load centres jointly.
In India, however, bulk of the transmission is managed by regional load-despatch centres and there is a central utility like PGCIL to oversee the transmission activities. This practice is also followed in countries like China, Sweden and France, sources said.
PGCIL also made a presentation to the Federal Electricity Regulatory Commission (FERC) on the transmission system in India. FERC has been discussing the factors that led to the recent blackouts with senior officials in the US power department. Sources said that talks are on to switch over to the regional transmission organisation, which means a single agency would look after grid operation, maintenance, expansion and grid management.
The US power department officials are also likely to work in close association with PGCIL on the revamp activities of their transmission network system. "For PGCIL, a collaboration of this nature and an investment in the US transmission system, will increase the profile of the company," sources said. The transmission company is planning to go for a public issue by early next year.
(Source: Economic Times)