25 transmission projects facing delays due to land acquisition & clearance; majority are renewables

Known as the transmission corridor, it is the minimum safety zone around power lines to meet the requisite safety clearances as well as the electromagnetic field exposure limits.

It allows the utility to keep the power lines clear of tall trees, buildings and other obstacles that may interfere with line operation and to ensure safety of the public and environment.

However, RoW has emerged as a major bottleneck in expanding transmission networks needed to evacuate power from generating stations.

The challenge is more acute for renewable energy as capacity addition accelerates in line with India’s target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2070.

Renewable energy capacity additions reached 44.51 GW during this financial year till November which is nearly double as compared to the 24.72 GW during the same period last year.

Till November, India’s total installed renewable capacity stood at 253.96 GW, 23 per cent more than 205.52 GW in November 2024.

In December, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy also flagged RoW issues as a key hurdle in laying transmission lines under the government’s Green Energy Corridor (GEC) programme.

In January, Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), told The Indian Express that renewable energy curtailment is largely driven by a mismatch between the pace of project commissioning and the time required to build transmission infrastructure.

Earlier, MNRE had told The Indian Express that delays in the GEC were largely due to state-specific technical and statutory constraints, Right of Way challenges, restrictions in Great Indian Bustard (GIB) zones, nil bidder participation, weak bid response, repeated retendering, forest and environmental clearances, as well as disruptions during the monsoon.

“State governments addressed these challenges with the support of local administration,” the ministry had said.

The ministry also said that building ISTS networks from renewable-rich states such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu faces hurdles, which includes land acquisition and RoW issues, resulting in significant delays in transmission infrastructure creation.