The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited was incorporated on 23 October 1989[5] under the Companies Act, 1956 with an authorized share capital of Rs. 5,000 Crore (subsequently enhanced to Rs. 10,000 Crore in Financial Year (FY) 2007–08) as a public limited company, wholly owned by the Government of India with 51.34% stake in the company as on 31 December 2020 and as principal electric power transmission company for the country.[5]
Its original name was the "National Power Transmission Corporation Limited", was charged with planning, executing, owning, operating and maintaining high-voltage transmission systems in the country.[5] On 8 November 1990, the firm received its Certificate for Commencement of Business. Their name was subsequently changed to Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, on 23 October 1992.[5]
Power Grid[6] management started functioning in August 1991 and subsequently took over transmission assets from National Thermal Power (NTPC), National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC)], North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO), Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC), and other companies such as NPC, THDC, SJVNL in a phased manner; it commenced commercial operation in January 1993.[5] It also took over the operation of existing Regional Load Despatch Centers (RLDCs) from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), in a phased manner from 1994 to 1996, which have been upgraded and modernized with Unified Load Despatch and Communication (ULDC) schemes. The National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC) was established in 2009 for overall coordination at the national level. Later the company had diversified into the telecom sector for efficient use of its spare telecommunication capacity of unified load dispatch center (ULDC) schemes and also leverage on its country-wide transmission infrastructure.[5]
According to its mandate, the corporation, apart from providing a transmission system for evacuation of central sector power, is also responsible for the establishment and operation of regional and national power grids to facilitate the transfer of power within and across the Regions with reliability, security, and economy on sound commercial principles. Based on its performance, the firm was recognized as a Mini-Ratna Category-I Public Sector Undertaking in October 1998. It was conferred with the status of "Navratna" by the Government of India in May 2008 and "Maharatna" status in October 2019.
Business
Power Grid[7] operates throughout India and covers 90% of country's interstate and inter-regional electric power transmission system and its business segments include Transmission, Consultancy, Telecom and ULDC/ RLDC.[5] Its transmission network consists of roughly 168,140 circuit kilometers and 252 EHVAC and HVDC substations,[5] with total transformation capacity of 422,430 MVA as on 31 January 2021, and an availability of over 99%.[5] Power Grid's interregional capacity is 75,050 MW. Examples of Power Grid-owned stations include the Vizag back-to-back HVDC converter station, the Chandrapur back-to-back HVDC converter station, the India Sri Lanka HVDC Interconnection, and the Talcher–Kolar HVDC system.
Power Grid is listed on both the BSE and the NSE. As of 30 September 2010, there were 792,096 equity shareholders holders in Power Grid. Initially, Power Grid managed transmission assets owned by NTPC, NHPC Limited and NEEPCO Limited. In January 1993, the Power Transmission Systems Act transferred ownership of the three power companies to Power Grid. All employees of the three companies subsequently became Power Grid employees.
Powertel
Power Grid's telecom company, Powertel, operates a network of 100,000 kilometres (62,000mi) and has points of presence in 3000+ locations across India.[8][9][10]
About 2:35 a.m on 30 July 2012, the Northern Region Grid, which provides power to nine states in northern India including Delhi, experienced a widespread outage due to a grid disturbance. Power Grid and POSOCO began work immediately to restore power. By 8:00a.m. essential services had been restored, with 60 percent of the normal Northern Region Grid load restored by 11:00a.m. Power supply was then restored progressively and by 12:30p.m. power was extended to most of the cities and towns through Power Grid substations. The Northern Region Grid was brought back to normalcy to meet the demand of about 30 GW at 7:00p.m.
On 31 July 2012, the Northern Region Grid collapsed a second time, hours after the power supply had been restored to the northern region following the previous day's disruption. Eastern transmission lines also failed, disrupting power supply in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Assam and Punjab, among other states.[11] After the power failures, then-Power Minister Veerappa Moily said that transmission grids would be independently audited in three months to ensure that the grids were fail-safe.[12]
PowerGrid InvIT initial public offering
In late April 2021, PowerGrid floated an offer for sale via the Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) route. The offer opened on 29 April and closed on 3 May, by which the initial public offering was subscribed 4.83 times. This was the second InvIT initial public offering in the country.[13]
Following are the historical landmarks in the lifetime of the company from the date of formation:[5]
2008 - completed the 220 KV Double Circuit Transmission line from Pul-e-Khumri to Kabul Transmission System in Afghanistan.
2006 - Commissioned the unified load despatch and communications scheme for the western region and also entered into an agreement with REC and certain state governments and state utilities for undertaking rural electrification works under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana in nine states in India.
2005 - Commissioned the unified load despatch and communications scheme for the eastern region.
2003 - Entered into a joint venture arrangement with the Tata Power Company Ltd for implementing a part of the entire transmission system associated with Tala Hydro-Electric Project, was the first public-private sector initiative in the transmission sector and commissioned the 400 KV Raipur-Rourkela line transmission line developed by it and also securing their first international consultancy contract from Bhutan Telecommunications.
2002 - Commissioned the unified load dispatch and communications schemes for the northern and southern regions and also commissioned the 2,000 MW Talchar-Kolar bipolar HVDC link developed by it.
2001 - Department of Telecommunications, GoI, granted Infrastructure Provider II license (IP II), to pursue leasing of bandwidth capacity to various customers on their telecommunications network.
1996 - Acquired the management of the remaining two regional load despatch centres, the Northern Regional Load Despatch Centre and the Western Load Despatch centre.
1995 - Acquired the management of the Eastern Regional Despatch Centre and the North Eastern Load Despatch Centre.
1994 - Took over the management of Southern Regional Load Despatch Centre and transmission assets from Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd were transferred to the company.
A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating current (AC) transmission systems. Most HVDC links use voltages between 100 kV and 800 kV.
The HVDC Inter-Island link is a 610 km (380 mi) long, 1200 MW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system connecting the electricity networks of the North Island and South Island of New Zealand together. It is commonly referred to as the Cook Strait cable in the media and in press releases, although the link is much longer than its Cook Strait section. The link is owned and operated by state-owned transmission company Transpower New Zealand.
HVDC Leyte–Luzon is a high-voltage direct current transmission link in the Philippines between geothermal power plants on the islands of Leyte and Luzon.
The HVDC Rihand–Delhi is a HVDC connection between Rihand and Dadri in India, put into service in 1990. It connects the 3,000 MW coal-based Rihand Thermal Power Station in Uttar Pradesh to the northern region of India. The project has an 814 kilometres (506 mi) long bipolar overhead line. The transmission voltage is 500 kV and the maximum transmission power is 1,500 megawatts. The project was built by ABB.
Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is an Indian public sector undertaking under the Government of Kerala that generates, transmits and distributes electricity in the state. Established in 1957, the agency comes under the authority of the Department of Power. It has been registered under Indian Companies Act 1956 in January 2011.
Availability Based Tariff (ABT) is a frequency based pricing mechanism applicable in India for unscheduled electric power transactions. The ABT falls under electricity market mechanisms to charge and regulate power to achieve short term and long term network stability as well as incentives and dis-incentives to grid participants against deviations in committed supplies as the case may be.
The Vyborg HVDC scheme is a system of electricity transmission from the Russian power system to Finland, using high-voltage direct current. It consists of four 355 MVA (250 MW) back-to-back converter blocks, the first three of which were completed in the early 1980s and the last in January 2001. Much of the original converter equipment has been refurbished or modernised.
The Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (APTRANSCO) is the electric power transmission company of Andhra Pradesh state in India.
A super grid or supergrid is a wide-area transmission network, generally trans-continental or multinational, that is intended to make possible the trade of high volumes of electricity across great distances. It is sometimes also referred to as a "mega grid". Super grids typically are proposed to use high-voltage direct current (HVDC) to transmit electricity long distances. The latest generation of HVDC power lines can transmit energy with losses of only 1.6% per 1,000 km.
The National Grid is the nationwide system of electric power transmission in New Zealand. The grid is owned, operated and maintained by Transpower New Zealand, a state-owned enterprise, although some lines are owned by local distribution companies and leased to Transpower. In total, the national grid contains 11,803 kilometres (7,334 mi) of high-voltage lines and 178 substations.
Power Grid Bangladesh PLC abbreviated as Power Grid is the sole organization of Government of Bangladesh entrusted with transmission of power throughout the country. It is a government owned Public Limited Company which is listed at the Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchange. It was previously known as Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Ltd and was abbreviated as PGCB.
Grid Controller of India Limited (GRID-INDIA) is a division of the Ministry of Power, Government of India. The new name of Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO) is Grid Controller of India Limited (Grid-India) since 09th November 2022. It is responsible to monitor and ensure round the clock integrated operation of Indian Power System. It consists of 5 Regional Load Despatch Centres (RLDCs) and the National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC).
Two severe power outages affected most of northern and eastern India on 30 and 31 July 2012. The 30 July 2012 blackout affected over 400 million people and lasted about 13.5 hrs. During that period, it was the largest power outage in history by number of people affected, beating the January 2001 blackout in Northern India. Similar conditions caused a blackout on the next day, which remained the largest power outage in history as of June 2024. The outage affected more than 620 million people, spread across 22 states in Northern, Eastern, and Northeast India. An estimated 32 gigawatts of generating capacity was taken offline. Of the affected population, 320 million initially had power, while the rest lacked direct access. Electric service was restored in the affected locations between 31 July and 1 August 2012.
The Vizag back-to-back HVDC station, or Visakhapatnam back-to-back HVDC station, is a back-to-back HVDC connection between the eastern and southern regions in India, located close to the city of Visakhapatnam, and owned by Power Grid Corporation of India.
The Chandrapur back-to-back HVDC station is a back-to-back HVDC connection between the western and southern regions in India, located close to the city of Chandrapur. Its main purpose is to export power from the Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station to the southern region of the Indian national power grid. It is owned by Power Grid Corporation of India.
The Sasaram back-to-back HVDC station is a back-to-back HVDC connection between the eastern and northern regions in India, located close to the city of Sasaram, in Bihar state in northeastern India. The station is owned by Power Grid Corporation of India.
The Chandrapur–Padghe HVDC transmission system is an HVDC connection between Chandrapur and Padghe in the state of Maharashtra in India, which was put into service in 1999.
The Talcher–Kolar HVDC system, otherwise known as the East–South interconnection II is a 1450 km HVDC transmission connection between the eastern and southern regions in India connecting four states namely Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The system has a transmission voltage of ±500 kV and was originally put into service in March 2003, with a rated power of 2000 MW. In 2007 the scheme was upgraded to 2500 MW.
The Rio Madeira HVDC system is a high-voltage direct current transmission system in Brazil, built to export power from new hydro power plants on the Madeira River in the Amazon Basin to the major load centres of southeastern Brazil. The system consists of two converter stations at Porto Velho in the state of Rondônia and Araraquara in São Paulo state, interconnected by two bipolar ±600 kV DC transmission lines with a capacity of 3,150 megawatts (4,220,000 hp) each. In addition to the converters for the two bipoles, the Porto Velho converter station also includes two 400 MW back-to-back converters to supply power to the local 230 kV AC system. Hence the total export capacity of the Porto Velho station is 7100 MW: 6300 MW from the two bipoles and 800 MW from the two back-to-back converters. When Bipole 1 commenced commercial operation in 2014, Rio Madeira became the world’s longest HVDC line, surpassing the Xiangjiaba–Shanghai system in China. According to the energy research organisation Empresa de Pesquisa Energética (EPE), the length of the line is 2,375 kilometres (1,476 mi).
The National Grid is the high-voltage electricity transmission network in India, connecting power stations and major substations and ensuring that electricity generated anywhere in India can be used to satisfy demand elsewhere. The National Grid is owned, and maintained by state-owned Power Grid Corporation of India and operated by state-owned Power System Operation Corporation. It is one of the largest operational synchronous grids in the world with 417.68 GW of installed power generation capacity as of 31 May 2023.
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₹46,913 crore (US$5.6 billion) (2024) [2] 
