India will be in a position to supply 100 megawatts of power from a Tripura gas-based power plant by the end of this year to Bangladesh or the National Grid, said a top official of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).
"As far as the Palatan unit is concerned, it is producing 350 megawatts (of power), and its next unit will also produce 350 megawatts. That we are expecting sometime in September. The power produced from that unit, we can give to Bangladesh or the National Grid," said V. P.Mahawar, ONGC's Asset Manager for Tripura.
The Government of Bangladesh in response to India's request, had allowed the transit of over dimensional cargoes consisting of heavy machinery and turbines for the project through the waterway of that nation into landlocked Tripura, without which it would have been impossible to inaugurate the power plant.
The first unit of the 726.6 megawatt gas-based power plant at Palatana near Agartala has started generating electricity, and the second 363.3 megawatt unit is expected to commence operation by September.
Mahawar added: If everything is smooth, we require just six to eight months to distribute through the transmission lines, as we only need to put the towers and a converter machine. That should not take much time, but this is a thing that needs attention from subject to subject and is not within our control. We can just predict."
He informed that India is making a power grid for transporting electricity through Bangladesh.
"At present, from the National Grid via Kolkata, around 500 megawatts of power goes to Bangladesh, but it is going through West Bengal. From here, since the frequency is different as they use 60 Hz and we use 50 HZ, so we use a converter which is a technical matter. That we can do and it is not a big deal. But from here, the transmission loss will be less and it will be easy to give power," said Mahawar.
Tripura will soon be India's first power surplus state, as it would get a state share of 196 megawatts from the ONGC Tripura Power Corporation (OTPC) at Palatana and 104 megawatts from the North East Electric Power Corporation's gas based thermal power project which would be operational by January next.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar had expressed an interest in selling 100 megawatts of power to Bangladesh as a goodwill gesture, to which the Government of India has shown a positive response.
Meanwhile, the Rs.5,000 crore urea plant at Khobal in Unakoti District, a joint venture of the Tripura Government, ONGC and private sector firm Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals, would be operational by 2017, said the ONGC official.
He said the project is in its initial stage and would need to get the clearance certificate from the Ministry of Environment. Most importantly, it would have to also establish that the required amount of gas be made available since the project is gas-based.
The state government, ONGC, Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals had signed the MoU for the project on April 9, 2012.
ONGC had discovered huge gas reserves at Khobal near the Assam-Agartala National Highway (NH-44) in 2011.
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