The Ranganadi Hydro Electric project (RHEP) in Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh will stop production of electricity for three months due to repair and maintenance of the project, state Power Minister Tamiya Tago said Thursday.
The RHEP located at Yazali with a installed capacity of 405 mega watt power, will stop production from February 1 to April 30 this year for repair work at the tunnel, which has reportedly developed leakage, Taga told reporters here.
With the shutting down of the project owned by the North East Electrical Power Corporation Ltd (NEEPCO), Arunachal Pradesh would face power shortage to the tune of 60 MW daily, officials said.
The average peak demand of power in the state per day is 100 mw, excluding five districts Tawang, Anjaw, Upper Siang, Dibang Valley and Shi-Yomi, which are dependent on local generation of power, Power Department Chief Engineer (Western Zone) Gumdo Doji said.
"To overcome the shortfall of 60 mw power, Chief Minister Pema Khandu and I wrote to the Union Minister of State for Power to allocate additional power from Central sector power generating stations and after much persuasion, the ministry allocated 30 mw of power from Unchahar-I Therma Power Plant of NTPC to the state on round the clock basis for three months," the minister informed.
Taga added that the NEEPCO had also consented to allocate regular 34 mw of power of Meghalaya for 5.30 hours regularly for three months.
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"The NEEPCO will provide 10 MW power from Kathalguri gas power station in Assam and 24 MW from Agartala gas thermal combined cycle power project in Tripura which were meant for Meghalaya," the minister disclosed.
"The state power department on Wednesday inked power purchase agreements with NTPC Ltd for 30 MW and NEEPCO for 34 MW for three months involving an expenditure of Rs 28.27 crore," Taga informed.
"In case of any exigency on real time basis, the department can draw to an extent of 12 per cent of scheduled quantum of power," the Power minister said and appealed to the people to cooperate with the department during the period.
Responding to questions why NEEPCO has decided to shut down the project when board exams are approaching along with general elections, Taga said that due to leakage in the tunnel, NEEPCO had decided to go for the shut down as it is a lean season and repair works would be much easier as the flow of water in the river is less.