An electrical grid is an interconnected network of transmission lines transferring power from Generating station to load centres.
Generating stations put together, supply the electricity demand through the transmission lines. Load centres or distribution companies draw the power from the lines and send it to consumers.
There are five regional grids in the country:
- Northern
- Southern
- Eastern
- North-eastern
- Western
Evolution of Grid in India:
- Grid management on regional basis started in 60s.
- Initially, State grids were inter-connected to form regional grid and India was demarcated into 5 regions namely Northern, Eastern, Western, North Eastern and Southern region.
- In October 1991 North Eastern and Eastern grids were connected.
- In March 2003 WR and ER-NER were interconnected .
- August 2006 North and East grids were interconnected thereby 4 regional grids Northern, Eastern, Western and North Eastern grids are synchronously connected forming central grid operating at one frequency.
- On December 31, 2013, Southern Region was connected to Central Grid in Synchronous mode with the commissioning of 765kV Raichur-Solapur Transmission line thereby achieving ‘ONE NATION’-‘ONE GRID’-‘ONE FREQUENCY’.
- Future: The integrated national grid will also help towards interconnecting countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) that consists of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and the Maldives. The SAARC grid ideates meeting electricity requirement in the region. India already has power grid links with Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh, and plans to develop power transmission links with Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
One Nation-One Grid
The Indian Power system for planning and operational purposes is divided into five regional grids. The integration of regional grids, and thereby establishment of National Grid, was conceptualised in early nineties. The integration of regional grids which began with asynchronous HVDC back-to-back inter-regional links facilitating limited exchange of regulated power was subsequently graduated to high capacity synchronous links between the regions.
The initial inter-regional links were planned for exchange of operational surpluses amongst the regions. However, later on when the planning philosophy had graduated from Regional self-sufficiency to National basis, the Inter-regional links were planned associated with the generation projects that had beneficiaries across the regional boundaries.
By the end of 11th plan the country has total inter-regional transmission capacity of about 28,000 MW which is expected to be enhanced to about 65000 MW at the end of XII plan.
Synchronisation of all regional grids will help in optimal utilization of scarce natural resources by transfer of Power from Resource centric regions to Load centric regions. Further, this shall pave way for establishment of vibrant Electricity market facilitating trading of power across regions. One Nation One Grid shall synchronously connect all the regional grids and there will be one national frequency