GUWAHATI: The 450-MW Ranganadi Hydro Electric Project (RHEP) of the NEEPCO in Arunachal Pradesh’s Lower Subansiri district will remain shut for three months from February 1 to April 30 to facilitate repair and maintenance work at the tunnel which has developed a leakage.
This was on informed on Thursday by Arunachal Pradesh power minister Tamiyo Taga who further appealed to the public to cooperate with the state’s department of power during this “crucial period of three months”.
The power minisrer informed that the shut down of the power project would create 60 MW shortage of power in the state and assured that it would taken acre of by the sttae power department which had signed power purchase agreements with National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and North East Electrical Power Corporation Ltd (NEEPCO) at the cost of Rs 28.27 crore.
“According to the agreement, the NEEPCO Ltd will allocate 10 MW of power from Kathalguri Gas Power Station in Assam and 24 MW of power from Agartala Gas Thermal Combined Cycle Power Project in Tripura by regulating the power allocation for Meghalaya for a period of five and a half hours daily (16:30 hrs to 22:00 hrs) for three months,” the minister said.
He added that the NTPC Ltd will allocate 30 MW of power from Unchachar-I Thermal Power Plant to the state on round the clock basis for three months.
The intimation for shutting down the project came to us on January 11, the power minister said expressing hope that the NEEPCO would inform about such closures, if any, in the future well in advance.