Govt Approves ₹68,800 Crore Power Transmission Corridor To Connect Rajasthan's Renewable Energy With Eastern States

India has approved a major power transmission project worth approximately ₹68,800 crore to strengthen electricity connectivity between renewable energy generation centres in the west and industrial and urban demand hubs in the east.

The proposed network will use 1,150-kilovolt (kV) technology, making it the country's highest-voltage power transmission system. The project is expected to take around six years to complete.

According to meeting minutes released late Tuesday, India's national transmission panel has cleared the proposal.

The infrastructure is designed to transport larger volumes of electricity across the country as renewable energy capacity expands and demand from industrial centres increases.

The proposed system will have significantly greater transmission capacity than the existing 765-kV network.

Higher-voltage transmission lines can transport more electricity using fewer corridors and less land. They can also reduce transmission losses, making long-distance power transfers more efficient.

Expanding the existing 765-kV infrastructure to accommodate rising electricity flows would require additional transmission corridors and land acquisition.

The new network is expected to address these challenges while supporting India's growing renewable energy sector.

The project comes as India accelerates renewable energy installations and battery storage development to achieve its target of 500 gigawatts of non-fossil power generation capacity by 2030. The country's existing capacity has already crossed 300 GW.

Western states, particularly Rajasthan, are emerging as major renewable energy generation centres, while eastern regions such as Odisha are witnessing growing industrial electricity demand.

The first phase of the proposed corridor will connect Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal.

It will also link with a 6,000-megawatt high-voltage transmission network carrying renewable electricity from Rajasthan's Bhadla solar region.

The project is expected to strengthen the national electricity grid and facilitate the movement of clean power from generation-rich regions to areas with rising consumption.

Its development will be important for integrating additional renewable energy capacity into India's power system.