Cabinet Clears Green Energy Corridor Phase-III Transmission Scheme

India's renewable energy expansion faces a structural problem. States richest in solar and wind resources, such as Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, are often not the states with the highest electricity demand. Moving power from generation sites to consumption centres requires two types of transmission infrastructure. The Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) carries power across state boundaries. The Intra-State Transmission System (InSTS) carries power within a single state, from the generation point to the grid injection point. The Green Energy Corridor (GEC) scheme was designed to close this gap by funding grid infrastructure in renewable-rich states.

Earlier phases of the GEC established this pattern. GEC-I was approved in 2015-16, partly backed by German financial assistance, to evacuate around 24 GW of renewable power through new intra-state transmission lines. GEC-II followed in 2021, adding further InSTS capacity for roughly 20 GW of evacuation in additional states. Both phases revealed a recurring problem: renewable capacity built without matching transmission capacity leads to curtailment, where clean power that is generated cannot be fed into the grid and is simply wasted.

India's climate commitments have raised the scale of this challenge considerably. The country has pledged 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based electricity capacity by 2030, a 45% reduction in carbon intensity compared to 2005 levels, and net-zero emissions by 2070. A further milestone of 900 GW of installed non-fossil capacity by 2035 has also been set. Meeting these targets depends as much on transmission and storage infrastructure as on generation capacity itself. This is the context for the newly approved Green Energy Corridor Phase-III (GEC-III).