BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:IEEE vTools.Events//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Asia/Kolkata BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:19451014T230000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0630 TZOFFSETTO:+0530 TZNAME:IST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20251030T071119Z UID:6599F504-D916-4CBC-A7A7-FE79BC478CC0 DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20251010T070000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20251010T230000 DESCRIPTION:On the occasion of IEEE Day 2025\, the IEEE PES Student Branch Chapter\, Indian Institute of Science\, Bengaluru\, visited one of the lar gest solar power parks at Pavagada\, Karnataka\, India\, on 10th October 2 025. The KSPDCL-associated parks installed capacity is 2\,050 MW\, develop ed in 8 segments of 250 MW each and subdivided into 40 blocks of 50 MW. Ea ch 250 MW segment is connected to a 220/66 kV or 220/33 kV pooling substat ion\, from where power is stepped up to 220 kV and finally to 400 kV at th e POWERGRID (PGCIL) station.\n\nKSPDCL serves as the base infrastructure p rovider (land\, internal roads\, street-lighting\, and evacuation up to th e pooling substations). They have developed about 70 km of internal roads (with main and sub-roads) to connect solar plants\, KSPDCL substations\, a nd offices\, and provided an extensive street-light network along these co rridors. Under the evacuation scheme\, eight pooling substations (each poo ling 250 MW from five 50 MW blocks) collect power via double-circuit under ground 33 kV/66 kV cables from the blocks\, step it up to 220 kV\, and the n deliver it to the 400/220 kV PGCIL substation. From there\, evacuation t akes place over twelve 400 kV lines toward Tumkur\, Devanahalli (Bengaluru )\, Mysuru\, Bellary\, Gooty\, and other nodes.\n\nGeneration & plant topo logy: Solar energy is generated at low DC voltage using PV modules (typica lly a few hundred watts per panel). Panels are series/parallel-connected t o reach the required string DC voltage and are interfaced to the string or central inverters. Inverters produce low-voltage AC (hundreds of volts)\, which is stepped up by inverter-duty transformers to 33 kV or 66 kV at th e block level. A standard 50 MW block feeds two 25 MW feeders to the pooli ng substation\; five such blocks form one 250 MW segment pooled at 220/66 kV or 220/33 kV and evacuated at 220 kV to the grid.\n\nGrid integration a nd reactive power support: The Pavagada park is spread across ~11\,000 acr es in five villages of Pavagada Taluk\, Tumkur\, reflecting its scale and integration into Karnataka’s grid. During 2021 trials\, night-mode opera tion of PV inverters (available across 1\,575 MW of capacity with ~986 MVA r capability) was coordinated via PPC/SCADA to manage high nighttime volta ges on lightly loaded lines. The trials recorded maximum reactive power ab sorption of 456 MVAr at the 220 kV point\, reducing bus voltages and the n eed for multiple line openings\; typical active power consumption during t his period was ~2–2.5 MW per 100 MVAr of absorption.\n\nOperations & obs ervations: We observed the park’s layered control using master PPC and f eeder-level controls\, with reactive power managed block-wise or feeder-wi se depending on inverter make and PPC/SCADA availability. The twelve 400 k V corridors and eight 220 kV links provide robust evacuation pathways from the pooling substations to regional load centers\, including Bengaluru vi a Devanahalli.\n\nOverall\, the visit offered valuable insights for power- electronics and power-systems students\, showcasing the end-to-end integra tion from PV strings to 400 kV transmission\, the role of PPC-coordinated reactive support\, and the practical trade-offs across inverter topology\, O&M\, and grid codes. We thank the IEEE PES Bengaluru Chapter for sponsor ing travel on the occasion of IEEE Day and acknowledge the support of IISc \, PGCIL\, and KSPDCL. The group is enthusiastic about participating in si milar technical visits in the future.\n\n[][][]\n\nCo-sponsored by: IEEE P ES Bangalore Chapter\n\nSpeaker(s): Ravi\, Mahesha\n\nPowergrid Substation \, Pavagada\, Pavagada\, Karnataka\, India LOCATION:Powergrid Substation\, Pavagada\, Pavagada\, Karnataka\, India ORGANIZER:kuldeepsinghshivran@gmail.com SEQUENCE:33 SUMMARY:Pavagada Solar Park Visit on IEEE Day URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/511114 X-ALT-DESC:Description: <br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justi fy\;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt\; line-height: 107%\;">On the occasio n of IEEE Day 2025\, the IEEE PES Student Branch Chapter\, Indian Institut e of Science\, Bengaluru\, visited one of the largest solar power parks at Pavagada\, Karnataka\, India\, on 10<sup>th</sup> October 2025. The KSPDC L-associated parks installed capacity is 2\,050 MW\, developed in 8 segmen ts of 250 MW each and subdivided into 40 blocks of 50 MW. Each 250 MW segm ent is connected to a 220/66 kV or 220/33 kV pooling substation\, from whe re power is stepped up to 220 kV and finally to 400 kV at the POWERGRID (P GCIL) station.&nbsp\;</span></p>\n<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify\;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt\; line-height: 107%\;">KSPDCL se rves as the base infrastructure provider (land\, internal roads\, street-l ighting\, and evacuation up to the pooling substations). They have develop ed about 70 km of internal roads (with main and sub-roads) to connect sola r plants\, KSPDCL substations\, and offices\, and provided an extensive st reet-light network along these corridors. Under the evacuation scheme\, ei ght pooling substations (each pooling 250 MW from five 50 MW blocks) colle ct power via double-circuit underground 33 kV/66 kV cables from the blocks \, step it up to 220 kV\, and then deliver it to the 400/220 kV PGCIL subs tation. From there\, evacuation takes place over twelve 400 kV lines towar d Tumkur\, Devanahalli (Bengaluru)\, Mysuru\, Bellary\, Gooty\, and other nodes. </span></p>\n<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify\;"><st rong><span style="font-size: 12.0pt\; line-height: 107%\;">Generation &amp \; plant topology:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 12.0pt\; line-he ight: 107%\;"> Solar energy is generated at low DC voltage using PV module s (typically a few hundred watts per panel). Panels are series/parallel-co nnected to reach the required string DC voltage and are interfaced to the string or central inverters. Inverters produce low-voltage AC (hundreds of volts)\, which is stepped up by inverter-duty transformers to 33 kV or 66 kV at the block level. A standard 50 MW block feeds two 25 MW feeders to the pooling substation\; five such blocks form one 250 MW segment pooled a t 220/66 kV or 220/33 kV and evacuated at 220 kV to the grid. </span></p>\ n<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify\;"><strong><span style="f ont-size: 12.0pt\; line-height: 107%\;">Grid integration and reactive powe r support:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 12.0pt\; line-height: 10 7%\;"> The Pavagada park is spread across ~11\,000 acres in five villages of Pavagada Taluk\, Tumkur\, reflecting its scale and integration into Kar nataka&rsquo\;s grid. During 2021 trials\, night-mode operation of PV inve rters (available across 1\,575 MW of capacity with ~986 MVAr capability) w as coordinated via PPC/SCADA to manage high nighttime voltages on lightly loaded lines. The trials recorded maximum reactive power absorption of 456 MVAr at the 220 kV point\, reducing bus voltages and the need for multipl e line openings\; typical active power consumption during this period was ~2&ndash\;2.5 MW per 100 MVAr of absorption. </span></p>\n<p class="MsoNor mal" style="text-align: justify\;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12.0pt\ ; line-height: 107%\;">Operations &amp\; observations:</span></strong><spa n style="font-size: 12.0pt\; line-height: 107%\;"> We observed the park&rs quo\;s layered control using master PPC and feeder-level controls\, with r eactive power managed block-wise or feeder-wise depending on inverter make and PPC/SCADA availability. The twelve 400 kV corridors and eight 220 kV links provide robust evacuation pathways from the pooling substations to r egional load centers\, including Bengaluru via Devanahalli.&nbsp\;</span>< /p>\n<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify\;"><span style="font- size: 12.0pt\; line-height: 107%\;">Overall\, the visit offered valuable i nsights for power-electronics and power-systems students\, showcasing the end-to-end integration from PV strings to 400 kV transmission\, the role o f PPC-coordinated reactive support\, and the practical trade-offs across i nverter topology\, O&amp\;M\, and grid codes. We thank the IEEE PES Bengal uru Chapter for sponsoring travel on the occasion of IEEE Day and acknowle dge the support of IISc\, PGCIL\, and KSPDCL. The group is enthusiastic ab out participating in similar technical visits in the future.</span></p>\n< p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify\;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt\; line-height: 107%\;"><img src="https://events.vtools.ieee.org/vto ols_ui/media/display/0be93f0e-c31b-4ebe-8823-c8a305bb0a1b" alt="" width="3 88" height="291"><img src="https://events.vtools.ieee.org/vtools_ui/media/ display/e44d469d-612e-446d-b503-3900b16d6be5" alt="" width="377" height="2 83"><img src="https://events.vtools.ieee.org/vtools_ui/media/display/2edd7 7e3-3bac-4e5d-8973-a081697a9b0c" alt="" width="398" height="246"></span></ p> END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR