GE’s Grid Solutions business has received a grid upgrade order for West Bengal, a state in the eastern region of India along the Bay of Bengal with over 91 million inhabitants. The order from West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company (WBSETCL), one of the state’s largest transmission utilities, will address the growing energy demand of the state and provide the utility with the latest state-of-the-art transmission infrastructure.
The order worth approximately USD $10 million that GE won through a competitive bidding process, includes the construction of three new 132/33 kV substations using GE’s advanced Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) technology in Ramnagar, Manbazaar and Birlarpur areas of West Bengal. It also includes an extension of three existing substations at Hurand, Sirakole and Indus areas by adding two bays each. The project will be implemented by GE T&D India Limited, the listed entity of GE’s Grid Solutions business in India.
The demand of electricity in the state has risen approximately more than three-fold in the last decade. With over 11 gigawatts (GW) of generation capacity at present, West Bengal is working toward improving the availability, reliability and quality of power supply, whilst minimizing transmission and distribution losses. Its projects aim at contributing to the government’s ambition to supply electricity to all consumers 24/7 and provide electricity access to all unconnected households in the state. Once completed, the substations will strengthen the intra-regional connectivity and ensure better electricity access to people living near these areas, thereby enabling the state to meet the growing demand for electricity.
GE’s GIS technology is an advanced substation technology and requires up to 70% less land for installation compared with Air Insulated Substations (AIS). The technology will offer several benefits for West Bengal’s grid, including smarter networks, condition-based maintenance and greater load control to prevent outages. The equipment required to construct the substations, including the GIS, will be locally manufactured and supplied from GE Grid Solutions’ state-of-the-art factories in India located in Padappai, Hosur and Pallavaram.
