POWERGRID Augments 765 kV Hub Substations with 1,500 MVA Transformers to Evacuate 20 GW Rajasthan Solar

Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID) has commissioned massive 765/400 kV interconnecting transformer (ICT) augmentations and 300 Mvar synchron...

POWERGRID Augments 765 kV Hub Substations with 1,500 MVA Transformers to Evacuate 20 GW Rajasthan Solar

Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID) has commissioned massive 765/400 kV interconnecting transformer (ICT) augmentations and 300 Mvar synchronous condenser units across the Ramgarh, Bhadla-III, and Fatehgarh-II substations in Rajasthan to evacuate over 20 GW of mega solar park generation.

Super-Grid Transformation in the Thar Desert

Western Rajasthan hosts some of the world’s largest ultra-mega solar power parks, including the sprawling Bhadla and Fatehgarh complexes. To handle sudden solar generation surges and wheel electricity across the Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) to northern and western industrial states, POWERGRID executed major substation capacity expansions.

At Ramgarh and Kanpur (PG), new banks of single-phase 765/400 kV 500 MVA autotransformers (forming 1,500 MVA three-phase banks) were energized, manufactured under domestic Make-in-India programs with high-permeability CRGO steel cores and automated online moisture management.

Synchronous Condensers for Short-Circuit Strength at Fatehgarh-II

Because the massive concentration of grid-following solar inverters drastically suppressed the regional Short-Circuit Ratio (SCR) to near-critical thresholds (<1.8), POWERGRID integrated utility-scale synchronous condensers at the Fatehgarh-II 765 kV pooling substation.

The synchronous condensers inject instantaneous dynamic reactive power and physical rotational inertia, stabilizing grid frequency during sudden cloud cover transients and high-voltage line faults.

Pioneering 765 kV Double-Circuit Line Corridors

The substation augmentations operate in synchrony with the newly commissioned 765 kV double-circuit Ramgarh–Bhadla III transmission line, creating an ultra-robust 765 kV ring that slashes transmission losses by 22% compared to parallel 400 kV circuits.

The commissioning keeps India firmly on track toward its national target of 500 GW of non-fossil generation capacity by 2030.