Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday said the government has allocated ₹10,000 crore under Green Energy Corridor Phase I and about ₹12,000 crore under Phase II of the scheme. 

Speaking in the Lok Sabha during the Question Hour, he said, “Green Energy Corridor [GEC] Phase I is under implementation in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu for grid integration and power evacuation of about 24 GW of RE.” 

He further informed the House that Green Energy Corridor (GEC) Phase II will enable grid integration and power evacuation for around 20 GW of renewable energy projects across seven states — Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh.

What are Green Energy Corridor schemes? 

The Green Energy Corridor schemes are the government’s ambitious critical infrastructure initiatives aimed at strengthening and modernising the national and state transmission grids to efficiently evacuate and integrate large-scale renewable energy. 

Under such schemes, the government is aiming to ensure that the power generated from solar and wind plants, often located in remote or resource-rich areas (such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, etc.), can be transmitted to the high-demand consumption centres across the country without overloading the grid. 

Two major phased schemes 

Under the larger renewable energy initiative, two major phased schemes have been implemented: Green Energy Corridor–I (Intra-State GEC), approved in FY15–16, and Green Energy Corridor–II (Inter-State GEC), sanctioned in FY22–23.  

Under this first scheme, the government is focusing on the construction of new substations, installation of high-voltage transmission lines (mostly 400 kV and 220 kV), and deployment of reactive compensation devices to maintain grid stability. Reports say that the government has largely completed these projects.  

While under the Green Energy Corridor-II, the government is primarily focused on building the inter-state transmission system to facilitate the transfer of renewable power between states and regions which is crucial for a balanced national grid by setting up about 10,750 circuit km of transmission lines, adding  22,000 MVA capacity of substations and specifically targeting integration from solar parks and wind zones. According to the reports, the government is expected to achieve all these targets by the end of 2026.