KEC International 765 kV Order: Rs 1,014 Crore, First Pumped Storage Line

KEC International has taken its first order for a 765 kV transmission line that carries power out of a pumped storage plant, and it sits in western India. The company put the new India T&D orders at Rs 1,014 crore on 10 October. For contractors and fleet owners, the useful part is not the headline value. It is what a 765 kV line out of a pumped storage site asks of foundation crews, and where that work is likely to be.

What KEC announced

The release is on KEC’s own press-release page, and CNBC TV18 and Business Upturn carried it the same day. MD and CEO Vimal Kejriwal called it a milestone for the T&D business as it supports power infrastructure for the renewables segment. The year-to-date figure ties to the last update: Rs 8,600 crore plus Rs 1,014 crore takes intake past Rs 9,600 crore, so this is fresh business and not the 8 October orders counted again.

What does a 765 kV line out of a pumped storage plant need on site?

A transmission line is not one site. It is a string of tower locations along a route, roughly one every few hundred metres, each with its own foundation pits. At 765 kV the towers are among the heaviest in the Indian grid, so each pit is deeper and each pour bigger than on a 400 kV line. The dig is work for a 14 to 20-tonne excavator, or a backhoe loader where the soil is soft and access is tight. Concrete arrives by transit mixer where roads allow, and by small site mixers where they don’t.

The pumped storage end changes the picture. A PSP needs two reservoirs at very different heights, so the line’s first stretch usually starts in hill country. That means rock in the pits, breakers on the excavators, and access tracks that have to be cut before any tower goes up.

What it means for buyers

Machines on a line job keep moving from pit to pit and rarely stay more than a few days at any one tower. That is a hire pattern. A regional owner with two or three mid-size excavators, a backhoe and a low-bed can quote per location, and line EPC contractors commonly sub-let foundation and access work to local firms.

KEC hasn’t named the client or the project, so we can’t say whether it ties to a scheme already announced, such as the Satara pumped-storage network Adani Energy Solutions won in August. Either way it adds to the power and renewables build-out already competing for the same operators and transport.

Our take: one order does not make a market, but a first 765 kV PSP evacuation line says storage projects are moving from studies to grid connections. If more follow, hill-capable mid-size excavators with breaker lines are the class most likely to stay busy.

FAQ

How big is the KEC International 765 kV order?

KEC’s new India T&D orders total Rs 1,014 crore. The company highlighted its first 765 kV line for evacuating power from a pumped storage plant in western India but did not say how much of the total that line accounts for.

Which machines are used to build a 765 kV transmission line?

Excavators and backhoe loaders for tower foundation pits, breakers where the ground is rock, transit or site mixers for the foundation concrete, and graders and rollers for access tracks. Tower erection and conductor stringing use specialist gear on top of that.

Is this the same project as Adani’s Satara transmission scheme?

KEC has not named the client or project, so that can’t be confirmed. Treat any link between the two as unknown until the client is disclosed.

Related on DesiMachines: KEC International’s 8 October batch and the 300 MW wind EPC job inside it

Source: CNBC TV18