The North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) and DS Group abandoned the Thermal power projects in Meghalaya.
Power Minister AT Mondal on Thursday informed while the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) had written to the State government expressing that they don’t want to continue with the 500 MW thermal power project in the state. Another company named DS Group which had signed an MoU for a thermal power project but there is no communication from the company’s end.
Speaking to reporters, Mondal said that the matter was taken up with the CMD of NEEPCO in New Delhi.
“So what had transpired in the meeting was that now NEEPCO will not go for any thermal power project henceforth so it will be purely green and clean energy. So maybe that is the reason that they have written to us that they don’t want to continue with this thermal power project,” he said.
The minister said the main issue with thermal power projects is the coal linkage.
“Unless and otherwise you are sure with coal linkages, if you go for huge investment that will be just a waste, so that is not that easy that we just go without having the coal linkages first,” he said.
Stating that the state government is mostly focused on hydel power projects and not thermal projects, he maintained that hydel power projects have various advantages.
“As proposals are coming forward, we will look into it but the question is that if any private parties will go for any power projects be it thermal, hydel or solar or anything, the idea they moot is that the government should purchase cent per cent power so that is becoming a stumbling block,” he added.
He also stated that the government is working on both long term and short term measures to address the power crises in the state.
“We are holistically working to see that some more power projects are coming up. This is for the long term. For the short term, we also try to find out how the losses have been minimized and how alternative energy is pumped into the grid.”