October 2016 – Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL), a Govt of India Enterprise, has recently awarded Sterling and Wilson – India’s leading Turnkey MEP and EPC player, with the project of extension of 400kV and 132kV substations including Transformers & Reactors under the North Eastern Region (NER) of India’s Strengthening Scheme-IV & VII spread over five states. This project comprises of 9 locations of North Eastern Region namely Imphal, Silchar, Balipara, Bongaigaon, Misa, Kopili, Nirjuli, Agartala, Mokokchung of 5 states namely Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Nagaland. This scheme will strengthen the capacity of distribution network of North Eastern Region with more reliability.

Sterling and Wilson is to supply, install, test and commission the civil work for various 400kV and 132kV substations including Transformers & Reactors under the North Eastern Region IV and VII at Imphal, Silchar, Balipara, Bongaigaon, Misa and Agartala Sub-Stations. Powergrid also intends to Procure Spare Transformers at Nirjuli, Kopili and Silchar and Spare Reactors at Bongaigaon of North Eastern region. The Sub-stations involve Supply, Installation, Testing and Commissioning of a number of Transformers ranging from 50MVA to 500MVA and Reactors ranging from 31.5MVAR to 125MVAR.The project is valued at Rs. 250 Crore inclusive of all taxes and duties.

Speaking on the project won from Powergrid, Mr Avinash Pandit, President – EBOP Power & Metals and EHV Substations, Sterling and Wilson Pvt Ltd said, “It’s a great opportunity to work with Powergrid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) on this unique and challenging project in the North Eastern Region. This scheme will strengthen the capacity of distribution of the remote locations of NER with more reliability. This project will truly bring about a lot of development in the hilly terrain of North East. I am sure with the technical expertise of successfully executing large scale projects, we would be able to deliver this project successfully in time.”

The project is expected to be commissioned in next 18 months from the date of award of the project. However, some of the priority sub-stations will be commissioned much ahead of the schedule.