NEEPCO expresses inability to develop thermal power project in Meghalaya: Mondal

SHILLONG, AUG 10: The North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) has expressed its inability to implement the 500 megawatt thermal power project in Meghalaya.

“NEEPCO has written to us (informing) that they don’t want to continue with this power project and that they want to scrap it,” Power Minister AT Mondal told reporters.

He said that the matter was taken up with the CMD of NEEPCO, who is also the CMD of NTPC in New Delhi.

“So what had transpired in the meeting was that now NEEPCO will not go for any thermal power project henceforth so it will be purely green and clean energy. So maybe that is the reason that they have written to us that they don’t want to continue with this thermal power project,” Mondal added.

When asked, the minister said the main issue with thermal power projects is the coal linkage.

“Unless and otherwise you are sure with coal linkages, if you go for huge investment that will be just a wastage, so that is not that easy that we just go without having the coal linkages first,” he said while adding that another reason is benefit offered by hydel power project like 3% free power and 1% of power for local area development is not there in the thermal power project.

“As proposals are coming forward, we will look into it but the question is that if any private parties will go for any power projects be it thermal, hydel or solar or anything, the idea they moot is that the government should purchase cent per cent power so that is becoming a stumbling block,” he added further.

Meanwhile, the minister informed that the government had also taken up with NTPC for generating power from garbage.

“We also took up  the matter for discussion but the waste we generate is not that sufficient for a viable project, they told us,” he said.

He further stated that the government is working on both long term and short term measures to address the power crises in the state.

“We are holistically working to see that some more power projects are coming up. This is for the long term. For the short term, we also try to find out how the losses have been minimized and how alternative energy is pumped into the grid – all these things are coming up,” he said while informing that the CM’s Solar Mission will be officially launched tomorrow.

By Our Reporter