Kolkata, INDIA September 04 2019: GE’s Grid Solutions business( NYSE: GE) announced today that it 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.
With over 11 gigawatts (GW) of generation capacity, West Bengal is working towards 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.
“We are proud to continue our 30-year partnership with WBSETCL by providing them with our latest grid technologies to help them meet their growing energy needs in a more efficient way. With over 50% of India’s power managed on GE’s grid technologies, we are helping to meet the needs of the country’s electricity consumers including in West Bengal. The new substations will help the state achieve its objective to provide reliable power for all households 24/7,” said Sunil Wadhwa, Managing Director of GE T&D India Limited.
GE’s GIS technology is one of the most advanced substation technologies in the world 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.
GE’s Grid Solutions India business has a strong footprint in West Bengal and with the latest contract awarded, is executing projects worth over USD $35 million to upgrade the state’s grid infrastructure. Some of the key ongoing projects include Gas Insulated Substations (GIS) at Burdwan and Salt Lake. GE has been fully committed to modernize the state’s power infrastructure and has already completed projects worth approximately USD 107 million over the last few years in partnership with the state’s transmission and distribution utilities like WBSETCL, Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), and Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation.
