Srinagar: In a major boost to power scenario in Kashmir, the Northern Region System Strengthening (NRSS) project, which would enable transfer of 1,000 MW electricity to the valley, is ready to be commissioned, a top official of developer Sterlite Power said.
“NRSS-29, which connects the northern grid to Jammu and Kashmir, is ready to be commissioned. The project would enable power transfer of 1,000 MW to the valley, thus increasing the grid capacity by 70 per cent,” Sterlite Power CEO Ved Tiwari told reporters here.
The project has been completed except for a 600-metre minor section in the Khansahib area.
Tiwari said the project was conceived in 2012 and approved by the Centre in February 2013. The project – NRSS-29 — was transferred to the company on August 4, 2014, and the firm had targetted to complete the transmission line by its fourth anniversary on August 4, 2018, Tiwari said.
Only about 600 metres of the nearly 850-km line remains to be completed, he added.
“We faced some difficulties in the Khansahib area, but we have overcome them now and in the next three-four days, that part of about 600 metres will also be completed and we will have the charge in the line on August 4,” he said.
The CEO said after the charge, it would take the company about three months to actually commission the project.
By the winters of 2018, the company expect to stabilise the line so that people in the valley have some relief in the cold, he said.
The NRSS-29 project from Samba in the Jammu region to Amargarh in Baramulla in north Kashmir takes a different route than the three transmission lines (Kishenpore to Wagoora) from the northern grid to the valley. This project, Tiwari said, is better in many ways as there are fewer chances of disruption due to heavy snowfall or avalanches which often affects power supply Kashmir in winters.
Tiwari said many difficulties were faced by the company because of the terrain and harsh weather.
“The highest tower we erected is 3,200 metres high. We had to use a helicrane to erect towers and that has been done for the first time in Asia. One of the sub-stations – at Amargarh – has been made by GE Electric and the entire sub-station has been made in a factory and then erected at the spot,” he said.
The NRSS-29 is one of the largest private sector transmission project awarded in the country, the Sterling Power CEO said, adding it is critical for meeting the power requirements of the state, especially Kashmir, which suffers massive load-shedding during winter when electricity demand rises sharply and generation from hydel-power plants dips.
