Mumbai's Kudus–Aarey HVDC Link Nears Commissioning
Mumbai is set to receive up to 1,000 MW of additional renewable energy capacity following the near-completion of the Kudus–Aarey HVDC transmission corridor, developed by Adani Electricity Mumbai Infra Limited (AEMIL), a subsidiary of Adani Energy Solutions Ltd (AESL).
The project comprises an 80 km VSC-based HVDC link operating at ±320 kV, connecting the 400 kV Kudus substation of Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (MSETCL) in Palghar district to the 220 kV Aarey EHV substation (GIS) of Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd (AEML) in Mumbai's western suburbs. Approximately 50 km of the route is underground cable, with the remaining 30 km overhead. The infrastructure has also been designed with future expansion in mind, with space provisions for an additional 1,000 MW of transfer capacity.
The project was identified as a critical bulk power injection scheme for Mumbai by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the State Transmission Utility, and the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC). It was triggered in part by the major grid collapse of October 2020, when cascade tripping across MSETCL substations and transmission lines blacked out much of the city, followed by a further outage in February 2022. The Maharashtra state government sanctioned the HVDC link in November 2020, and MERC granted a 25-year transmission licence to AEMIL in March 2021, authorising the company to build, own, operate and maintain the link until March 2046.
Hitachi Energy India Limited was awarded the contract to supply the HVDC equipment in July 2022, with AEMIL acting as project developer under the regulated tariff mechanism (RTM). The project reached financial closure in August 2023, with AESL securing approximately USD 700 million from nine international banks. Total project investment has been reported at approximately Rs 7,000–7,500 crore.
As of late 2025, the project was reported to be on track for commissioning to start by December 2025 or January 2026, with full commissioning of the scheme anticipated during FY26, according to timelines set out by the CEA in its National Electricity Plan – Volume 2 (Transmission), published in November 2024.
Mumbai's peak electricity demand reached 3,850 MW in 2022, with approximately 2,100 MW supplied from outside the city via existing transmission corridors operating under capacity constraints. The island city has only around 1,800 MW of embedded generation capacity. The new HVDC link will increase external power supply into Mumbai by close to 50 percent and is central to AEML's stated target of raising the share of renewable energy in its supply mix to 60 percent of total demand.
The Kudus–Aarey project is AESL's second HVDC asset, following the operational Mundra–Mahendragarh scheme, and represents the first underground HVDC link to be constructed in an urban environment in India. AESL is also pursuing a third HVDC initiative in Rajasthan, having secured the project in early 2025 at an estimated value of Rs 25,000 crore.
