REG NO:- D202101956

“Report based on Transmission line Network

in West Bengal.”
Submitted in the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of

DIPLOMA IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

PROGRAMME
BY
Barun Kumar Singh
(Diploma 2nd Year, 4th Semester, Registration No: D202101956 )

Under the Supervision of

Mr. Abhijit Ghosh
(Lecturer in Electrical Engineering Dept.)

BENGAL COLLEGE OF POLYTECHNIC, DURGAPUR

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ABSTRACT

West Bengal’s sole state transmission company, West Bengal State Electricity
Transmission Company Limited (WBSETCL) is one of the largest transcos in
India. It is responsible for transmitting power throughout the state. In recent
years, WBSETCL’s efforts have been focused on enhancing the reliability of the
transmission network system, reducing transmission losses and voltage
fluctuations, and making intra-state electricity transmission efficient through the
provision of a competent electricity transmission network, construction of new
substations including air-insulated substations (AIS) and gas-insulated
substations (GIS), capacity augmentation of existing substations and reactive
power management to ensure a robust grid. For the period 2019-20 to 2024-25,
the transco has outlined a massive capex of Rs 80.82 billion, of which the
majority is expected to be incurred on new transmission lines and substations.

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Acknowledgement

This survey was supported by Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Bengal College of

Polytechnic Durgapur under guidance of Prof. Mr.Abhijit Ghosh (Lecturer of Electrical

Engeering Dept., BCP Durgapur). I am thankful to our colleagues who provided expertise

and greatly assisted the survey.

Barun Kumar Singh

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INTRODUCTION
Incorporated in 2007, as a part of the restructuring initiative of WBSEB, which
had its operations spanning across complete value chain of generation,
distribution and transmission of power, WBSETCL has been established as a
separate dedicated company, wholly owned by the GoWB, for carrying out the
power transmission activity. Presently, power generation activity vests with
West Bengal Power Development Corporation Limited (WBPDCL) and
distribution activity vests with WBSEDCL. As on March 31, 2020 the
company owns and operates a transmission network of 14,734 ckm Extra High
Voltage (EHV) transmission lines and 142 EHV sub-stations having
transmission capacity of about 35,545 MVA spread across the entire State of
West Bengal. The average transmission loss stood at 2.57% in FY20 (2.49% in
FY19) with an availability factor of 99.89% in FY20 (99.92% in FY19).
WBERC has passed an order on Annual Performance Review (APR) filed by
WBSETCL for FY14 in July 2020 and tariff order for FY19 and FY20 in
December 2020. Multi-year Tariff petition for FY21-FY23 has been filed by
the company on August 28, 2020. The APR from FY15 to FY18, are also
pending with WBERC.

WBSETCL wholly owned by Govt. of West Bengal, is a professionally

managed, a multi-sited Power Transmission Company in Eastern India. The
Company has developed strong in-house expertise in various facets of power
transmission business. As on the end of financial year 2016-17, the Company
operates and maintains a transmission network of 12962 CKM of Extra High
Voltage Transmission lines along with 117 sub-stations (400 KV- 66 KV)
having total transformation capacity of 27752 MVA, spread over the entire
stretch of the State of West Bengal. With focus of improving performance, the
transmission system was consistently maintained at an availability of 99.91%
for the year 2016-2017, at par with international standards.

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Current network and operational performance

WBSETCL was incorporated in April 2007, post the unbundling of the
erstwhile West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB), in line with the
requirement under the Electricity Act, 2003. The erstwhile WBSEB was
unbundled into WBSETCL and West Bengal State Electricity Distribution
Company Limited.

As of January 2020, WBSETCL’s total transmission line length stood at

14,710.7 ckt. km, 4.6 per cent higher than its line length of 14,060 ckt. km in
2018-19. The transmission line length registered a compound annual growth
rate (CAGR) of 3.95 per cent during the period 2014-15 to 2018-19. Around
58.32 per cent (8,579.4 ckt. km) of its network is at the 132 kV level, 25.48 per
cent (3,748.5 ckt. km) is at 220 kV, 13.93 per cent (2,049.8 ckt. km) is at 400
kV and the remaining (333 ckt. km) is at the 66 kV level. A line length of over
600 ckt. km was added during 2019-20 (till January 2020) as against 461 ckt.
km in 2018-19. During 2019-20, the maximum line length of 82 per cent was
added at the 132 kV level, followed by 15 per cent at 400 kV and 3 per cent at
220 kV.

As of January 2020, WBSETCL owned 141 substations (including AISs and

GIS ) and 651 transformers. One new AIS substations (220 kV) and three
GIS substations (one at 220 kV and the other two at 132 kV) were added in
2019-20 (till January 2020). In 2019-20 (till January 2020) eight transformers
were added, of which three were at the 220 kV level and five at the 132 kV,
level. Meanwhile, WBSETCL added 1,448.3 MVA of transformer capacity in
2019-20 (till January 2020) as compared to 2,679 MVA of transformer
capacity added during 2018-19. As of January 2020, its total transformer
capacity stood at 35,291 MVA.

WBSETCL’s transmission losses have remained below 3 per cent over the past
few years and decreased from 3.12 per cent in 2014-15 to 2.49 per cent in
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2018-19 and 2.62 per cent in 2019-20 (as of January 2020). The company’s
normative system availability stood at 99.92 per cent during 2018-19 and
99.85 per cent as of January 2020. In the 2019 fiscal, WBSETCL handled
about 53,319 MUs of energy on its transmission network as against 49,560
MUs in the 2018 fiscal.

Financial highlights
WBSETCL has consistently delivered good financial performance in recent
years. In terms of total revenue, the company registered a growth of 5.67 per
cent in 2018-19 over the previous year. The total revenue went up from Rs
13.49 billion in 2017-18 to Rs 14.26 billion in 2018-19. Since 2014-15, the
company’s total revenue has increased at a CAGR of 7.98 per cent. It recorded
a net profit of Rs 4.48 billion in 2018-19, witnessing an increase of 2.32 per
cent over the previous year. Since 2014-15, the company’s net profit has
grown at a CAGR of 13.59 per cent. Its total expenditure increased by 3.31 per
cent in 2018-19 over the previous year to stand at Rs 9.1 billion. The
operations and maintenance cost increased from Rs 641.8 million in 2017-18
to Rs 661.8 million in 2018-19, registering a growth rate of 3.11 per cent. The
transco’scapex recorded a CAGR of 6.23 per cent from 2014-15 to 2018-19 to
stand at Rs 9.4 billion.

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Future plans

The transco plans to add 13,806.5 MVA of transformer capacity from 2019-20
to 2024-25 to reach 46,368.5 MVA by 2024-25. It aims to add 5,371 ckt. km of
line length over the same period to reach a line length of 19,431 ckt. km by
2024-25. It also plans to increase its GIS base to 83 by 2024-25.

WBSETCL has planned a sizeable capex of Rs 80.82 billion for the period
2019-20 to 2024-25. Of this, the maximum amount is planned for the
construction of new transmission lines and substations (Rs 63.64 billion),
followed by renovation and modernisation (R&M)/augmentation of existing
assets (Rs 15.61 billion), and IT/SCADA and software (Rs 0.88 billion). The
highest capex of over Rs 15 billion is expected to be incurred in 2021-22.

One of the key ongoing projects of the transco is reactive power management
of the state grid. It plans to undertake the installation of 33 kV capacitor banks
at 36 EHV substations to improve the power factor and the system voltage
profile, and reduce the transmission loss. Also, to control and overcome high
voltage problems in the eastern regional grid, the installation of a 125 MVAr
switchable bus reactor has been planned at the Arambag 400 kV substation.
Around 90 per cent of the project cost will be provided by the Power System
Development Fund as a grant.

Some of the other important projects that are currently under way are R&M of
the transmission system for relieving congestion in the intra-state transmission
system, installation of switchable reactors at 400 kV and shunt capacitors at 33
kV, and establishment of reliable communication and data acquisition systems
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at WBSETCL’s substations. The implementation of an integrated system for

scheduling, accounting, metering and settlement of transactions (SAMAST)
has also been planned in West Bengal for Rs 259.6 million.

In September 2019, GE T&D India Limited secured a Rs 900 million grid

upgradation order from WBSETCL. The order involves the construction of
three new 132/33 kV substations using GE’s GIS technology in Ramnagar,
Manbazaar and Birlapur. It also includes the extension of three existing
substations at Hurand, Sirakole and Indus by adding two bays each.

With regard to the interstate transmission system, central transmission utility

(CTU) Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (Powergrid) has one 800 kV
HVDC and one 400 kV substation at Alipurduar, and four 400 kV and three
220 kV substations for the evacuation of power from central sector generators
including power from Bhutan. Currently, about 400 MW of power can be
received from the CTU in the state. Further, to provide sustainable power
supply and facilitate power exchange with neighbouring states, the Central
Electricity Authority has approved the construction of two 765 kV substations
under tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) at Midnapur and Jeerat under
the regional scheme. For the development of this project, PowergridMidnapur-
Jeerat Transmission Limited has obtained the letter of intent through the TBCB
route and the project is planned to be completed by 2021-22.

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Conclusion
In sum, West Bengal’s transmission segment seems well positioned to cater to
the changing sector needs with significant network additions planned in the
near future. WBSETCL’s planned capex and initiatives are expected to ensure
that it is on a strong footing to provide stable and quality power with improved
availability and minimum losses in the transmission system.

REFERENCE

 www.wikepedia.com

 www.google.com
 https://www.wbsetcl.in/

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