New Delhi, April 24 : REC Transmission Projects Company Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd, – a ‘Navratna’ Central Public Sector Undertaking, under Ministry of Power, has handed over on April 18,2012, its project specific Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) namely Vemagiri Transmission System Limited to M/s Power Grid Corporation of India Limited who had emerged as the successful bidder.
Competing alongside with the private sector majors, M/s Power Grid Corporation of India Limited quoted the lowest levellised tariff of Rs. 1197.4035 million per annum. The Vemagiri Transmission System is a part of integrated transmission system associated with IPPs of Vemagiri Area: Package A and comprising of 765 kV Double Circuit line (approx. 400 km) traversing through three districts of Andhra Pradesh and would be utilized for power evacuation from Vemagiri Pooling Station in Kakinada District via Khammam to Hyderabad.
The selection was carried out based on the Standard Bidding Documents and Guidelines notified by Ministry of Power, Government of India for selection of transmission developers on Build, Own, Operate & Maintain (BOOM) basis through tariff based competitive bidding route.
Appointed as Bid Process Coordinator by Ministry of Power, GoI, REC Transmission Projects Company Limited has so far awarded four transmission projects with an aggregate value of Rs. 5,800 crore through tariff based competitive bidding route. A large number of private players have evinced interest in the competitive bidding dispensation and these numbers suggests that the private sector is all set to make substantial investment in transmission sector.
Pursuant to GoI policy, post 5th January, 2011, all inter-State transmission projects (barring few exceptions) will be implemented through competitive route. In the coming future, more intra-State transmission projects may also get implemented through tariff based competitive bidding and it is expected that this may reduce transmission tariff thereby benefiting the end consumers.