Vindhyachal

The Indian power system is divided into five independent regional power grids, namely, the Northern, Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northeastern regions. The 500 MW Vindhyachal back-to-back HVDC station in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh interconnects the 400 kV AC networks of the Northern and Western regions.

A back-to-back station has no transmission line and connects two AC grids at different frequencies or phase counts. Vindhyachal station was built by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), but following the reorganization of the Indian power sector, the transmission now belongs to the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.

The remote Vindhyachal region hosts three super thermal power generating stations within a radius of 40 km: Singrauli (2,000 MW capacity), Rihand supplying power to the Northern grid (2,500 MW capacity) and the largest, Vindhyachal (4,260 MW capacity), supplying power to the Western grid. Bidirectional power flow capability is available, and the interconnection enables load diversity in India's Northern and Western power regions by meeting high demand from surplus power available in either region.