Summary
Mumbai, India’s financial capital, requires an exceptionally reliable power supply to support its critical infrastructure and rapidly growing electricity demand. Peak demand reached about 4000 MW in 2024, with nearly 2200 MW imported from outside Mumbai grid, and is further projected to rise to around 5500 MW by 2030 due to urbanization, metro expansion, data centres, airports, and Electric Vehicle adoption. With limited embedded generation and distant power sources, Mumbai increasingly relies on Extra High Voltage (EHV) AC corridors operating close to their thermal and stability limits, as highlighted by the widespread outages during the October 2020 disturbance.
Read more Read lessConventional AC transmission connectivity options for expansion were constrained by Rightof-Way limitations, environmental sensitivities, reactive power requirements, and high shortcircuit levels already approaching above 50 kA in parts of the network. Therefore, VSC-based
HVDC emerged as the most suitable solution, offering underground bulk power transfer, precise controllability, compact footprint, and no increase in AC fault levels.
This paper presents the planning and design of the ±320 kV, 1000 MW Kudus-Aarey VSCHVDC Hybrid City-Infeed Link. The 80 km scheme comprises about 30 km of overhead line and 50 km of underground cable routed through environmentally sensitive areas, with four acres of highly compact converter station at Aarey. The project enhances Mumbai’s external power import capability by about 45%, provides dynamic reactive support and incorporates black-start capability to strengthen system resilience. Built-in provisions for future expansion to 2000 MW further establish the scheme as a benchmark to city infeed solution for reliable bulk power injection to dense metropolitan load centres.
Additional informations
| Publication type | Session Materials |
|---|---|
| Reference | B4_10560_2026 |
| Publication year | |
| Publisher | CIGRE |
| Country | India |
| Study committees | |
| File size | 614 KB |
| Price for non member | 30 € |
| Price for member | 30 € |
Authors
THORAT * Abhishek - Adani Electricity, INDIA; KHAN* Jafar - Adani Electricity, INDIA; AMBARDEKAR Mahesh - Adani Electricity, INDIA; KAREKAR Sonu - Adani Electricity, INDIA
Keywords
