Transmission delays slow green push |
By Dhanendra Kumar
India is running a galloping race towards a green future. With a goal to build 650 gigawatts (Gw) of renewable energy capacity by 2032, the ambition is clear. However, an essential piece of the puzzle is failing to keep pace—the power transmission network. We are building solar panels and wind turbines faster than we can build the network to carry that electricity. The result is a costly logjam, and a primary cause is the overwhelming concentration of project execution with a single entity—the state-owned Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL).
The most visible symptom of this problem is “curtailment”, which is a technical term for a simple, wasteful reality: Turning off perfectly good renewable energy plants because the grid cannot absorb their power. When too much power is generated in one area and the transmission lines cannot handle the flow, operators may have to curtail some of the generation, even when they have this capacity, to prevent overloading the grid. Curtailment happens primarily due to transmission congestion, lack of grid capacity, or mismatches between generation and demand, leading to lost revenue for producers and wasted clean energy. Producers are paid for the electricity they generate, so curtailment directly results in lost income, affecting financial viability and debt........