Andhra Pradesh's state transmission utility, AP Transco, has drawn up plans to build out a 15-gigawatt power transmission network by 2034 to supply electricity to the wave of data centers being set up around Visakhapatnam. The state energy department estimates that data centers in the Vizag region alone will need about 9.1 GW of power, with total demand across the network projected to climb to roughly 15 GW by 2036-37 as more facilities come online.
Google, Reliance, Tata Consultancy Services (through its Hyperwalt unit) and Controls are among the companies already setting up data center capacity in the region, part of a broader push by the state government to position Visakhapatnam as a hub for hyperscale computing infrastructure. That push has been building for some time: the state has separately allotted 80 acres near Madhurawada to Google under an earlier memorandum of understanding, and Sify Technologies has commissioned a roughly Rs 1,500 crore, 50-megawatt facility in the city, alongside a wider plan for a 500-acre 'Data City' that officials have framed as a cornerstone of the state's IT and AI ambitions.
To keep pace with that demand, Transco has proposed new transmission lines and substations across Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts, with 765 kV and 220 kV substations planned at locations including Pendurthi, Maradam, Achyutapuram, Palasa, Padmanabham and Makavaripalem. Companies building data centers at Tarluvada, Mudasarlova, Polipalli and Chinnipalem are expected to construct their own dedicated substations to connect into the wider grid.
A particular focus is the Rambilli data center cluster in Anakapalli district, where Transco has proposed linking the 400 kV substation inside the Kakinada Special Economic Zone to substations at Kalpaka, Achyutapuram and Rambilli through a dedicated new transmission corridor. The state-run Power Grid Corporation of India is separately building a 765 kV substation at Pendurthi and extending its own network to connect with substations at Angul in Odisha, Srikakulam and Vemagiri, for which Transco has proposed a supporting 400 kV substation at Padmanabham. A planned 765 kV substation at Makavaripalem would link the Pendurthi and Kakinada substations, while a line from Angul would connect through Srikakulam's 765 kV substation to a proposed 400 kV substation at Palasa — extending national grid connectivity into the four north coastal districts. Officials say they are also considering handing some of this substation construction to private contractors to speed up completion.
The broader transmission build-out is also intended to carry renewable power generated in Rayalaseema northward through a proposed Rs 21,800 crore Green Energy Corridor, which would link with the North Andhra network and let the region draw on upstream renewable capacity rather than relying solely on new generation near the data centers themselves. Data centers are among the most power-intensive industrial loads being added anywhere in India, and the scale of grid investment AP Transco is planning underscores how much new infrastructure is required just to keep up with hyperscale computing demand, well before the facilities that will consume that power even go live.
