Meghalaya seems set for a long spell of load shedding as the situation is not likely to improve any time soon.
The state has faced several days of power cuts, at first due to an outage in a Tripura power plant that Meghalaya drew much of its power from.
Now is currently the dry season in the state, so its own hydroelectric power plants are not able to run at capacity. Other power plants are not functional and the state cannot draw on other sources as prices on the market are high as demand is increasing, Power Minister Abu Taher Mondal said today.
Whereas Meghalaya’s demand is for 200 million units, it is only able to generate less than half, at 88 million units. The Kopili Stage 1 power plant was able to provide 35 million units but is out of commission after a valve burst.
There are also problems with the Myntdu Leshka units due to damage and annual maintenance, while the second unit at Umiam is also shut down due to maintenance.
Although many new projects have been on the cards, they have yet to materialise. These include the second unit of the Myntdu Leshka project (280MW). Smaller projects, like that of New Umtru (40MW) and Ganol (22.5MW) have been unable to bridge the gap between supply and demand.
Last year the state government signed a memorandum of understanding MoU with NEEPCO for three hydroelectric projects with a total generation capacity of 235MW but these will only see the light of day in years to come.
