India approves high-capacity power corridor to support clean energy boom

India has approved plans for a high-capacity power transmission corridor to carry clean electricity from its western generation hubs to growing industrial and urban demand centres in the east.

The project is estimated to cost nearly 688 billion rupees ($7.34 billion) and take about six years to complete.

The 1,150-kilovolt (kV) system would be India's highest-voltage power ⁠network, allowing the dispatch of much larger volumes of electricity nationwide than present 765-kV lines.

India's national transmission panel approved the project, according to minutes of a meeting released late Tuesday.

India is adding renewable energy at a record pace along with battery storage, as it targets 500 gigawatts of non-fossil power generation by 2030, from more than 300 GW now.

Existing ⁠765-kV lines would require more transmission corridors and land requirements to carry electricity.

A 1,150-kV network can carry substantially more power, moving the same amount of electricity along fewer lines and ⁠less land, with smaller transmission losses.

The network is being planned as renewable energy capacity expands rapidly in western states such as ⁠Rajasthan, while electricity demand rises in eastern industrial hubs such as Odisha.

The first phase will link the states ⁠of Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal and connect with a 6,000-megawatt high-voltage transmission system carrying renewable power from Rajasthan's Bhadla solar region.