AGARTALA, Feb 8: The State-owned North Eastern Electric Power Corp (NEEPCO) will add 870 MW of power to the electricity-starved northeastern region by 2012, a senior official said here on Monday. “We are executing three hydro-electric and one gas-bas

AGARTALA, Feb 8: The State-owned North Eastern Electric Power Corp (NEEPCO) will add 870 MW of power to the electricity-starved northeastern region by 2012, a senior official said here on Monday.

"We are executing three hydro-electric and one gas-based thermal power projects in Arunachal Pradesh (600 MW and 110 MW), Mizoram (60 MW) and Tripura (100 MW) and these projects would be completed in the next four years," said NEEPCO chairman and managing director IP Barooah.

"Nine more hydro-electric and three more thermal power projects with a total generating capacity 5,775 MW are now various stages of investigation," Barooah told reporters. The corporation, which was set up in April 1976, currently has seven power stations in operation, totalling 1,130 MW, contributes around 50 per cent of the region's installed capacity.

It has also signed two agreements with the Meghalaya Government to execute an 85 MW hydro-electric and another 500 MW gas-based thermal power projects in East Garo Hills district. "With the commissioning of the new power projects, the installed capacity of NEEPCO would be doubled in the next four years," Barooah said.

According to the NEEPCO chief, northeast India has the potential to generate about 59,000 MW of hydropower. The region also has abundant resources of coal and oil and gas for thermal power generation. "In spite of such huge potential, the region ranks lowest in the country in terms of per capita energy consumption. This has been mainly due to inhospitable climatic conditions, remote location and inaccessibility of geographical locations," Barooah added. (IANS)

Deal likely on Tipaimukh project
Sudheer Pal Singh(Source: Business Standard)
New Delhi, Feb 7: A joint venture agreement between state-owned hydro power producers NHPC Ltd and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVN) and the government of Manipur to develop the Rs 8,138-crore Tipaimukh power project in the north-eastern state is likely to be signed by the end of the cur-rent financial year, ending March.
"The Manipur government has called a meeting of representatives from NHPC and SJVN on February 8 to discuss the terms of agreement of the 1,500-MW project. The JV will be sig-ned shortly after that. It will definitely happen by the end of this financial year," said a senior official from SJVN.
In July last year, the po-wer ministry had asked the three entities to form a joint venture (JV) for developing the project. NHPC would hold a majority 69 per cent stake in the project, while SJVN would take up another 26 per cent stake. The remaining 5 per cent would go in favour of the Manipur government.
The project was initially awarded to the state-owned utility North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd (Neepco). The company had, however, expressed its inability to take up the pro-ject citing lack of budgetary support.
With the Tipaimukh pro-ject out of its shelf, Neep- co's capacity addition target came down to 3,000 Mw from 4,500 Mw earlier being planned by the end of March 2017. Neepco has a current installed power gen-eration capacity of 1,130 MW.
The stakeholders have already fast-tracked the work on implementing various pre-project activities. "The detailed project report (DPR) has already been prepared. Environmental clear- ances will be obtained now," said the SJVN official.
SJVN is confident about raising equity for the restructured plant. The state-run utility will invest in the project from its internal resources.
The company, which claims it has a cash surplus of Rs 1,200 crore, is the next state-run power company in line after NHPC for getting listed through a public issue, likely to be anno-unced in the next financial year. Of the free power avai-lable from the Tipaimukh project, 11 per cent would go to Manipur, while 1 per cent would be shared between Manipur and Mizo- ram since parts of the project will also be in Mizoram.
The remaining power will be sold to different states on a long-term basis through power purchase agreements. According to sources, the levelised tariff for sale of power from the project, which is around Rs 4 per unit, could go up by 40-50 paise due to the complex nature of the project.
The cost of the project is likely to be escalated by at least Rs 1,000 crore owing to additional investment required for security and transport infrastructure to be developed. The additional funding would come directly from the central government as grant. The Union home ministry has already approved an outlay of Rs 300 crore on the project's security, and also okayed Rs 203 crore for the construction of a highway. The remaining funds would go into building flood control infrastructure.