Delhi govt sanctions Rs 300 crore for charging infra at seven bus depots

In a significant move towards electrifying its entire public transport bus fleet, the Delhi government has approved Rs 300 crore for the development of e-bus charging infrastructure at seven depots in the South West areas of the city, officials said on Friday.

The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) currently operates over 5,000 e-buses and the Delhi government plans to expand its fleet to 14,000 e-buses by 2029.

To facilitate the addition of regular batches of e-buses, the transport department is working on installing charging infrastructure at the bus depots, of which Delhi has over 50.

In a recent meeting of the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) chaired by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, an amount of over Rs 300 crore was sanctioned for developing charging infrastructure at various DTC and cluster bus depots in Dichaon Kalan, Kair, Kharkhari Nahar and Ghumanhera areas of South West Delhi.

According to a detailed project report (DPR) prepared by the power discom BSES Rajdhani Power Limited, the work is likely to be completed in 18 months after all the required approvals are granted.

Out of the total project cost of Rs 300.61 crore, 40 per cent (Rs 120.25 crore) is to be disbursed initially to the discom in the current year. An amount of Rs 120.07 crore has already been allocated for the project under the Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI) scheme, according to an official document.

The remaining expenditure of Rs 180.36 crore will be covered by the budget for the next year.

The charging infrastructure will include 66KV in-feeds, three 66/11 KV grids, and seven 11KV switching stations across the seven depots, officials said.

The tailored power load allocations will be 4 MVA at DTC Dichaon, 8 MVA at Cluster Depot Dichaon, 14.2 MVA at Cluster Kair, 7 MVA at DTC Kharkhari Nahar, 5 MVA at DTC Depot Ghumanhera, 9.6 MVA at Cluster Ghumanhera-1 (9.6 MVA), and 11.4 MVA at Ghumanhera-2.

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The design of the charging infrastructure was determined based on the distance between the discom grid and the respective switching stations of the bus depots, according to the document.

The project will be carried out by BSES Rajdhani Power Limited in accordance with the regulations of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC).