The National Grid is the high-voltage electricity transmission network in India, connecting

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

s and major substations and ensuring that electricity generated anywhere in India can be used to satisfy demand elsewhere. The National Grid is owned, and maintained by

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

Power Grid Corporation of India Power Grid Corporation of India Limited is an Indian central public sector undertaking under the ownership of the Ministry of Power, Government of India. It is engaged mainly in transmission of bulk power across different states of India. I ...

and operated by

Power System Operation Corporation Grid Controller of India Limited (GRID-INDIA) is a division of the Ministry of Power, Government of India. The new name of Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO) is Grid Controller of India Limited (Grid-India) since 9 November ...

. It is one of the largest operational synchronous grids in the world with 417.68 GW of installed power generation capacity as of 31 May 2023. India's grid is connected as a wide area synchronous grid nominally running at 50 Hz. The permissible range of the frequency band is 49.5-50.5 Hz, effective 17 September 2012. The Union Government regulates grid frequency by requiring States to pay more when they draw power at low frequencies. There are also synchronous interconnections to

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

, and asynchronous links with

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, and

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. An undersea interconnection to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

( India–Sri Lanka HVDC Interconnection) has also been proposed. A proposed interconnection between Myanmar and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

would facilitate the creation of a power pool and enable trading among all BIMSTEC nations.

History

India began utilizing grid management on a regional basis in the 1960s. Individual State grids were interconnected to form 5 regional grids covering mainland India. The grids were the Northern, Eastern, Western, North Eastern and Southern Grids. These regional links were established to enable transmission of surplus electricity between States in each region. In the 1990s, the Indian government began planning for a national grid. Regional grids were initially interconnected by asynchronous

HVDC A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating current (AC) transmission systems. Most HVDC links use voltages betwe ...

back-to-back Back to Back or back-to-back may refer to: Film and theatre *Back to Back (film), ''Back to Back'' (film), a 1996 American action film *Back-to-back film production, the practice of making two films as a unified production *Back to Back Theatre, ...

links facilitating limited exchange of regulated power. The links were subsequently upgraded to high capacity synchronous links. The first interconnection of regional grids was established in October 1991 when the North Eastern and Eastern grids were interconnected. The Western Grid was interconnected with the aforementioned grids in March 2003. The Northern grid was also interconnected in August 2006, forming a Central Grid synchronously connected operating at one frequency. The sole remaining regional grid, the Southern Grid, was synchronously interconnected to the Central Grid on 31 December 2013 with the commissioning of the 765 kV Raichur-Solapur transmission line, thereby establishing the National Grid.

Territories outside the grid

The

union territories Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own state government systems. Unlike states, Union Ter ...

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India comprising 572 islands, of which only 38 are inhabited. The islands are grouped into two main clusters: the northern Andaman Islands and the southern Nicobar Islands, separated by a ...

and

Lakshadweep Lakshadweep () is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands divided into three island subgroups: the Amindivi Islands in the north, the Laccadive Islands (separated from Amindivi roughly by the 11th parallel north), and th ...

are not connected to the National Grid. Both territories are

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

s located far away from the mainland. Due to the geography and topography of these islands, including separation by sea over great distances, there is no single power grid for all the electrified islands in the archipelago. The power generation and distribution systems of these territories is served by standalone systems, with each electrified island in the archipelago having its own generation and distribution system. Power stations cater independently to the power requirements of an area. The Electricity Department of Andaman and Nicobar (EDA&N) and the Lakshadweep Electricity Department (LED) are responsible for generation, transmission and distribution systems in these territories.

Inter regional transmission capacity

The inter regional total transmission capacity (TTC) is 105,050 MW as on 30 June 2021. However the available transmission capacity (ATC) on daily basis is not exceeding 35% of TTC and the actual usage is around 25%. Due to inter regional transmission constraints, the cost of power purchases by every region in Power Exchanges is not always equal. MoP has introduced a policy for nationwide single merit order power purchases from Power exchanges to avoid costly power purchases by the Discoms.

Cross border transmission links

India began cross-border electricity trade in the mid-1980s. India established 33 kV and 132 kV interconnections in radial mode from

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

and

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

to Bhutan and Nepal respectively. The first interconnection with Bangladesh was commissioned in December 2013, connecting

Berhampore Berhampore (), also known as Baharampur (), is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. Berhampore is the administrative headquarters of the Murshidabad district. As of 2011 census, Berhampore is the seventh largest city ...

with Bheramara. As of April 2017, there are 12 cross-border interconnections between India and Nepal. India became a net exporter of electricity for the first time in the 2016-17 fiscal year. Presently, India is importing electricity from

with synchronous transmission links while exporting power to

and

with asynchronous transmission links between the National Grid and the electricity grids of these countries. India is planning to build a minimum of 125 GW of wind capacity for Nepal 10 GW of hydro capacity for Nepal 20 GW of nuclear capacity and an undetermined amount of solar capacity by 2050 with full financial ownership in the hands of Nepal.

References

{{reflist, 3

External links

Cross Border Electricity Import/Export
Electric power transmission infrastructure in India Wide area synchronous grids