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Power-surplus north-east faces uphill task of selling electricity

At a time when many parts of the north are still plagued by an acute shortage of power, the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation, the main power generating agency in the region, is faced with the problem of abundance.

NEEPCO Limited, a central public sector unit, surprisingly faces the acute problem of evacuating power generated by it and due to that the Kathalguri power project has not been able to go full steam.

''Our problem is not generation at the moment but evacuation,'' said P Katoky, chairman and managing director.

NEEPCO currently produces more than 50 per cent of the power generated in the north east with most of it coming from the steam turbines of the Kathalguri gas-based project.

''We cannot produce more in Kathalguri in spite the fact that the gas turbine generating units have been commissioned and commercial production was expected by the first week of next month,'' he said.

NEEPCO has prevailed upon the North Eastern Regional Electricity Board for the construction of 220 KV double circuit line from Kathalguri to Tinsukia and 132 KV Tinsukia-Deomali and associated sub-stations.

''This will give us the opportunity to evacuate power effectively. Moreover, it will be another route to evacuate power apart from the existing one of the PowerGrid. At the moment we are evacuating 150 mega-watts only because of the lines,'' said Katoky.

The 44th board meeting of the NEREB held last week approved the construction of these two lines at a cost of Rs 700 million. The total length of the lines will be 65 kilometres.

''This will give us an alternative route to evacuate in case of any problem,'' said P S Agarwal, the member-secretary of the NEREB, adding that three years will be needed to construct the same after obtaining environment clearance.

Till then, the 291 MW Assam gas-based combined cycle power project of Kathalguri is unlikely to go on full steam and the power position was also not expected to improve dramatically. Assam itself is to be benefited by 12 per cent of additional power from this project.

Meanwhile, the two other projects being constructed by NEEPCO at Doyang (Nagaland) and Ranganadi (Arunachal Pradesh) are expected to be commissioned by 2000. In fact, the 75 MW Doyang Hydro Electric Project is expected to be commissioned by early next year at a cost of Rs 4.87 billion.

The Ranganadi project, which is to generate 405 MW, is expected by 2000. The total cost of the project was Rs 8.88 billion. More than 95 per cent of tunnel boring has been achieved while construction of diversion dam and power house civil works are going on in full swing.

NEEPCO, NEREB and PowerGrid top brass are unanimous that after 2000, the north-east will be a power surplus region and the eastern grid will be fed from here by the under-construction Maldah-Tinsukia power line of the PowerGrid.

UNI

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