Third phase of Green Energy Corridor in final stages, up for Cabinet approval

The government is in the final planning stages of instituting the third phase of the intra-state Green Energy Corridor (GEC), senior government officials privy to the development told The Hindu, adding that it has been sent to the Union Cabinet for the final approval.

Seeking to scale investment in green energy corridor for maintaining RE grid stability: MNRE Secretary

Separately, another official added that the scheme would carry an outlay of more than ₹50,000 crore.

The Hindu also learnt from officials that the focus in the third phase would be on augmenting further the intra-State transmission lines in “renewable-energy rich States”.

“Most of the packages have been awarded under the second phase. It is expected to complete in the next two years,” a senior official stated, adding, “Now we are mulling another scheme [that is, the third phase], we are seeking to institute a scheme for renewable-energy rich states for developing transmission lines to evacuate renewable energy from one location to another.”

The purpose of GECs is to transmit electricity produced from renewable sources, as solar and wind, from areas rich in the sources to distant places by synchronising them to conventional power stations in the grid.

In a submission to the parliamentary standing committee on Energy (August 6), the Union Renewables Ministry had stated that it aimed to evacuate about 135 gigawatts of renewable energy in the third phase.

In the same report, the committee had flagged concerns that have led to delays in completion of Phase-I and Phase-II of the GEC.

These relate to “right of way (RoW), delay in award, forest clearances and Great Indian Bustard (GIB)-related clearances” in the first phase.

It added “non-participation of states during tending process, consultation of tender and regulatory issues, et cetera” among the issues observed in the second phase.

The committee had also observed that seven out of eight States, that is, excluding Gujarat, have completed their work under the first phase, with states part of the second phase having sought an extension with the Ministry “actively monitoring the completion through dedicated review mechanisms”.

“The Committee are of the opinion that the Ministry needs to work in tandem with all the States involved in Phase-II of the GEC project to ensure that all the issues involved are resolved amicably and the implementation of the transmission-related projects are done as envisaged,” it held.