Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd announced the commissioning of the first phase of the North East Region to Agra power transmission link on Tuesday.

“The first pole of the 1,730 km long 800 kV HVDC (high voltage direct current) transmission line has been completed and power can flow in either direction,” said Power Grid Chairman and Managing Director RN Nayak.

The line crosses through four States and around 40 rivers. It consists of 7,000 pillars and cost nearly ₹7,500 crore.

The total cost of the project, when all phases are completed with 6,000 MW capacity, will be ₹12,000 crore.

“This transmission link will help in getting supply of surplus hydro power from the north eastern region in the monsoon months to north and western India, while in the winters it will be the other way around,” said Nayak.

He added that the project needed to be built now despite concerns of under utilisation as it is crossing through a narrow strip of land in Siliguri in West Bengal.

This high-capacity transmission link is the world’s largest multi-terminal 800kV HVDC project, comprising 3,000 MW HVDC terminals at Biswanath Chariyali and Alipurduar and a 6,000 MW terminal at Agra.

The North Eastern Region, together with Sikkim and Bhutan, has a large hydro generation potential to the tune of 65,000 MW.

To harness this enormous hydro potential robust transmission infrastructure was needed to connect the North East Region with the Northern Region/Western Region.

About 12-15 high-capacity transmission corridors — each of 5,000–6,000 MW capacity — were planned keeping in view constraints of right of way, the company said in a statement.

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