To harness the hydel power potential of the North eastern region, state-owned NHPC plans to set up over 10,000 MW capacity projects in the area at an investment of nearly Rs 50,000 crore by the 2022.
"We are going very strong in the North-east, we hope to execute over 10,000 MW capacity projects (worth approximately Rs 50,000 crore) in that region alone in the near future," CMD S K Garg told PTI in an interview.
"The hydro power projects have a long gestation period, therefore this capacity would be ready by the end of the XIIIth Five Year Plan," sources said.
The total hydel power potential of the country stands at 1,50,000 MW, and the North-east alone has a potential of nearly 60,000 MW. The government has identified 10,000 MW power capacity to be developed by NHPC.
State-run NTPC, which has entered hydel power generation segment would also develop some projects in the region and some would be developed by private power developers.
NHPC is developing, Subansiri Lower, the biggest hydro-electric project undertaken in the country so far and is a run of river scheme on river Subansiri near North Lakhimpur on the border of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
