The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs 1.86 lakh crore PM-DHARA Scheme to set up an intra-state transmission system with 50GWh battery storage to evacuate 135 GW of renewable energy.
The PM-DHARA stands for PM-Developing Harmonized and Accelerated Renewable-energy Access. The scheme will facilitate grid integration and power evacuation within the States/UTs of India. The Central Financial Assistance (CFA) will help in offsetting the Intra-State transmission charges and thus keep the power costs down.
This is significant in view of India’s ambitious target of 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. This initiative will strengthen India’s Intra-State Transmission System (InSTS) to enable evacuation of up to 135 Gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy across States/ Union Territories. The scheme also provides for deployment of 50 GWh of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) at the Renewable Energy (RE) developer/generator end or any other location of importance for grid flexibility to address intermittency, congestion, peak-hour curtailment and meet non-solar hour demand. The scheme is targeted to be set up by FY 2032-33 with a total project outlay of Rs 1,86,405 crore, comprising Rs 1,36,378 crore for the development of Intra-State Transmission Systems (InSTS) under GEC-III and Rs 50,000 crore for 50 GWh of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). The Scheme involves a total Central Financial Support of Rs 54,082 crore.
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the PM-DHARA Scheme, according to an official statement.
Thus, the government support will ultimately benefit the end users – the citizens of India. All Greenfield projects under the InSTS component will be implemented through Tariff Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB) mode, while brownfield upgradation and network strengthening works will be executed under Cost Plus Basis (CPB). The State Transmission Utilities will be the overall implementing agency, and Transmission Service Providers (TSPs) will participate under TBCB on a Build-Own-Operate-Maintain (BOOM) model. The scheme will also contribute to the country’s long-term energy security and promote ecologically sustainable growth by reducing thecarbon footprint. It will generate large direct & indirect employment in the power sector, manufacturing, and construction industries. Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) manufacturing and deployment will additionally generate employment in the domestic energy storage industry. The scheme will also generate long-term skilled employment in operation, maintenance, and grid management across participating States. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
The scheme will help achieve the target of 900 GW of installed Non-Fossil capacity by 2035.
