No respite from power woes

SHILLONG, April 5: Meghalaya’s power woes are far from over after a week of load-shedding.
Power Minister Abu Taher Mondal on Wednesday attributed the crisis to “a bunch of new problems” at a time when the state’s hydroelectric projects are going through a low-rain lean period. While the power-generating units are not functional, the state is not getting enough power from the central share. “Many utilities are also not banking with Meghalaya due to high rates of power,” he said.
Meghalaya currently has a power availability of 88 million units against a demand of 200 million units. The state is not receiving 35 million units of power from the Kopili Stage I due to the bursting of a valve there and power supply from two projects in the state has also been cut off, Mondal said.
Unit I of the Myntdu-Leshka hydroelectric project and Unit II of the Umiam project have been shut down due to annual maintenance and overhauling respectively, the minister said.
Load-shedding has been a severe problem in Shillong and elsewhere in Meghalaya for a very long time. Memorandums of understanding were signed for developing hydropower projects in the state years ago, but most of them have been on paper while a few were scrapped recently.
The 126 MW run-of-the-river Myntdu Leshka project was inaugurated quite some time ago. The second unit that was expected to generate 280 MW to ease the state’s power problem has not progressed beyond the planning stage.
The 40 MW New Umtru commissioned years ago and the 22.5 MW Ganol projects inaugurated earlier this year have failed to address the power woes of the state.
The state government on Wednesday decided to cancel the memorandum of agreement for the Kynshi Stage II project signed with the Jaypee Group. The other power projects scrapped by the government are the Upper Khri Stage I and II of 15 MW and 10 MW capacities respectively.
Last year, the Government signed a deal with the NEEPCO for the commissioning of Umiam I, II and III hydroelectric projects with a total generation capacity of 235 MW. These will take a long time to get commissioned.