HYDERABAD: Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL) said on Wednesday that it has successfully executed the Western Uttar Pradesh Power Transmission Company Limited (WUPPTCL) project, terming it one of the largest power transmission projects in India. WUPPTCL connected with the grid and charged on Wednesday, MEIL added.
According to B Srinivas Reddy, director of MEIL, the total cost of the project which would transmit 13,220 MVA of power is Rs 4,150 crore. “The execution of this project required stringent quality procedures, use of latest technologies, and meticulous planning,” a company statement said.
The firm started construction of this project in 2011 on build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis. It was completed in the first week of February 2018. MEIL will shoulder the responsibility of operation and maintenance of the project for the next 35 years.
“In the past, since the power transmission network in the western UP region was not sufficiently established as per the requirements, it led to massive pockets devoid of electric power for hours together. The construction of this project would help relieving such pockets from power scarcity,” it noted, adding that the project is among the first major power projects to be designed using gas insulated substations.
Also, projects of such large capacity were previously confined to the government sector. This is the first such project in the private sector.
MEIL has executed several infrastructure projects in India and abroad and has emerged as a major player in irrigation and drinking water projects.
“The WUPPTCL project surpassed Telangana Transco, Tamil Nadu Transco, and Rajasthan Transco, since it constitutes substations. The project also achieved the stable outlook credit rating during the construction phase,” the statement noted.
The project also boasts of employment of emergency restoration system, which is useful during natural disasters to limit the costs and the duration of power outages in overhead transmission lines, and to restore power within a span of a few hours.