In a special session at Power Line TransTech India 2025, Naveen Srivastava, Director (Operations), Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID), discussed the scale and evolution of India’s transmission network, with a focus on asset management, digitalisation and renewable energy integration. He highlighted how climate resilience, grid security and advanced technologies are becoming central to transmission planning and operations. He also outlined how workforce skills and data-driven systems are shaping the future of grid management. Edited excerpts…
Network scale and asset management
POWERGRID’s transmission network today comprises more than 287 substations with a total transformation capacity exceeding 550 GVA. Over the next five years, additional high-voltage direct current systems and 800 kV substations are planned, strengthening the national grid backbone. A key milestone in this journey has been the commissioning of the country’s first 765 kV digital substation at Navsari, Gujarat, which demonstrated the practical deployment of digital technologies in high-voltage transmission infrastructure.
Asset management extends far beyond routine operations and maintenance. It is a collaborative and multi-disciplinary function that brings together equipment upkeep, supply chain coordination, skill development, cybersecurity and continuous innovation. As wind energy zones expand and extreme climatic events such as cyclones and floods become more frequent, strengthening transmission towers and designing resilient systems have become essential elements of asset planning.
Key challenges
The challenges facing transmission operations can be broadly grouped into four or five major categories. The first relates to India’s diverse and often difficult geographical conditions, including hilly regions, dense forests, cyclonic belts and flood-prone areas. These conditions pose reliability concerns and significantly complicate construction, inspection and maintenance activities.
The second major challenge is grid security, which becomes increasingly critical as the transmission network expands in scale and complexity.
The third challenge is the need for continuous innovation. Rapid global advances in grid technologies require utilities to constantly upgrade systems and processes to ensure the delivery of reliable and quality power to end-consumers.
Skill development is an equally critical challenge. The increasing role of software and digital tools in asset management has prompted POWERGRID to incorporate artificial intelligence and machine learning into training programmes and explore the recruitment of data scientists.
Future outlook
Looking ahead, digitalisation is expected to play a central role in strengthening grid resilience and operational efficiency. The centralised monitoring and maintenance of remote substations require strong cyber resilience, continuous system upgrades and advanced analytics. Practices such as transformer health indexing are being used to determine asset criticality, while drones are deployed for transmission line inspections to enable faster identification of defects, despite certain operational limitations. Several technology pilots are under way, including dynamic line rating projects that use sensor-based systems to assess real-time transmission capacity. Smart substations are being deployed, and digital twin pilots have been initiated for few substations to simulate operational scenarios and optimise network behaviour.
Cybersecurity remains a key focus area, supported by a dedicated centre of excellence established at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. On renewable energy integration, large volumes of solar and wind power are already being injected into the grid, with offshore wind expected to emerge as the next major contributor. These challenges are most pronounced in states such as Rajasthan and Gujarat. Declining system inertia is a key technical issue, which is being addressed through the commissioning of 17 static synchronous compensators (STATCOMs) to enhance grid stability. Given the intermittent nature of renewable energy, the deployment of battery energy storage systems will be fundamental to maintaining grid reliability. Improved performance in Rajasthan and Gujarat following the commissioning of STATCOMs has already contributed to better power quality and enhanced energy security, underscoring the importance of technology-led interventions in the transmission sector.
