Energetica India - June 2020

A run S harma : We won our first GEC proj - ect - Lakadia-Vadodara transmission project in 2019 which involves laying 330 km of 765 kV double-circuit transmission lines connecting the wind energy zones of Bhuj region to the load centers in Gu- jarat and Maharashtra. Due to the current lockdown, the work at the project sites had been suspended. However, with the new MHA order in place, we have grad- ually resumed operations at the site with all the safety and social distancing proto- cols in place. The Government’s RE capacity addition targets have led to significant action at the Transmission front. Green Ener - gy Corridor (GEC) is the name that has been given to the Government of India’s plan for Grid integration/ evacuation of Power from the upcoming RE capacity being developed across the various the country and in States to meet the 175 GW RE target by 2022. This is a comprehen - sive Transmission plan for integrating the identified RE zones of 66.5 GW, being im - plemented in two phases. About 28 GW of RE projects are planned under Phase-I (up to Dec-2020), and the balance 38.5 GW will fall under Phase-II (2021-22). The past 15-18 months have seen 23 transmission projects – with a project val- ue of around Rs 27,000 Cr – come up for competitive bidding in two phases. This has greatly encouraged private develop- ers to enter the market with the auctions witnessing widespread participation and intense competition. By some estimates, competitive bidding on tariffs for these projects has effectively reduced the cost of delivery of Power by about 35%-45% to the consumers. E nergetica I ndia : Greenfield projects are flourishing in India with the issuance of several tenders across the country. How crucial will it be for the country to accomplish its renewable energy tar- gets? A run S harma : Energy is a critical input to fuel the growth momentum of a develop- ing economy like India. The government has consciously committed to having renewable energy sources to meet this growing energy appetite. Transmission plays a critical role to con- nect the RE sources to the load centers. We reckon the investment requirements in the transmission sector to the tune of around Rs 5 lakh crore in the next 10 years to create a vibrant State, National & Interregional SAARC grid. These invest - ments would largely cater to enabling re- newable generation evacuation into the grid, energy access to consumers, in- ter-regional energy exchange, and man- aging peaks and intermittencies through storage. In the last 10 years, around 57 projects with an investment of more than Rs 80,000 crore have been awarded un- der the competitive bidding framework, out of which 23 projects have already achieved commissioning. A steady rise in the number of bidders from 3 to 7 in the last 1-2 years demonstrates the increas- ing interest in the transmission sector. The competition has also led to about 35- 40 percent transmission tariff reduction compared to a normative cost-plus tariff of these transmission assets. The strong appetite shown by investors for transmission assets should reassure the Central Government that the requisite ISTS transmission network in the country could be built using private investments rather than crowding out public funding. E nergetica I ndia : Recently, the power ministry has proposed amendments in the Electricity Act, 2003. What are your thoughts on the same? How it will help the industry? A run S harma : The proposed amendments to the Electricity Act 2003 are focused towards addressing the issues faced by the Distribution sector, specifically on the aspects of determination of retail tariffs at cost by the Regulators, Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) by State Government to customers, honoring and enforcement of contracts through Electricity Contract Enforcement Authority (ECEA) and in - troducing the concept of Distribution Sub-licensee. These are major amend- ments, which if implemented in the true spirit, will put the Discoms on the path to financial and commercial sustainability. If we can fix the Discoms, we fix the sector per se. A financially viable distribution sector re - duces the counterparty and revenue re- covery risks, which in turn gets reflected through lower risk premiums by banks in lending rates and rate of return expecta- tions by investors. Consumers are thus, able to benefit from lower tariffs in bid out projects. E nergetica I ndia : With the rising stress due to COVID-19 lockdown, what fu- ture do you envisage for the country’s transmission sector to cater to power demands in upcoming times? A run S harma : Power transmission infra is a bigger challenge as compared to pow- er generation in the development phase as the transmission is a linear project and crisscrosses innumerable districts, habitats, and regions. Despite the cur- rent COVID situation, we strongly be - lieve that India’s power infrastructure will continue to grow. With the policy push tilted towards renewable energy, India’s transmission sector needs to keep pace with the generation. We at Sterlite Power, are aligned with the government’s vision of 40 percent electricity generation from non-fossil fuel sources by the year 2030. 22 energetica INDIA- June_2020 INTERVIEW