HVPNL upgrades 6 Gururgam, Manesar substns to curb outages

The move comes after repeated power outages during peak summer last year due to overloading at several substations, discom officials said

The Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (HVPNL) has undertaken the upgradation and augmentation of six major substations in Gurugram and Manesar to prevent outages and meet growing power demand over the next decade, officials said on Monday.

(Representative picture) These projects are in the initial planning stage and may take up to three years to complete, officials said. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The move comes after repeated power outages during peak summer last year due to overloading at several substations, discom officials said. The six substations being upgraded include the 400kV Daulatabad substation, 66kV units in sectors 35, 47, and Badshahpur in Gurugram; and 66kV and 220kV substations in Sector 2 and the Transport Hub in IMT Manesar, they added.

“As soon as the load on any equipment reaches 80% of its capacity, it must be upgraded, or else it causes overloading,” said BK Raghava, superintendent engineer, HVPNL. “The transformers at these substations had either reached or breached the 80% threshold, which is why we took up this augmentation project,” he added.

According to Raghava, the Daulatabad 400kV substation now houses three 31.5 megavolt-amperes transformers, up from two previously. “Its augmentation has relieved several substations drawing power from it through the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN). It is now capable of catering to a larger load,” he said.

In Sector 35, a new 16mva transformer was commissioned on May 2. The substation earlier had two 31.5mva transformers. One of these was shifted to the Sector 47 substation, which earlier had just one transformer and faced frequent overloading. The upgrade is expected to help meet demand from adjacent sectors.

In Badshahpur, officials replaced an old 20mva transformer with a 31.5mva unit on May 2, improving capacity to handle future residential and commercial loads. “The substation now has three transformers in total, which will help meet growing demand due to increased consumption and population growth,” said a senior HVPNL official.

Similarly, in IMT Manesar, Amit Kumar, executive engineer at HVPNL, said the 220kV Transport Hub substation, which was commissioned in September 2024, is being further augmented. “It already had two 100mva transformers, but we recently added a 31.5mva one. A fourth transformer of 20mva has also been installed now,” he said, adding that they plan to shift a major chunk of the area’s load to that substation.

Last month, HVPNL has upgraded the 66kV Sector-2 substation by replacing a 16mva transformer with a 20mva one to tackle past outage issues caused by insufficient capacity.

Looking ahead, Kumar said the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) plans to construct two new 66kV substations—in Technology Park and Phase-V, IMT Manesar—to further strengthen the local power grid. “These projects are in the initial planning stage and may take up to three years to complete,” he said.