Although the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) has reduced the hours of load shedding in the State, the Umiam reservoir which generates electricity for the State is still short of 15 feet of water.
This was informed by MeECL Chairman and Managing Director Sanjay Goyal to media persons here today.
“15 feet is a huge amount of water for us in terms of production of power because as the water rises, the volume of the water is quite big in terms of area and surface,” Goyal said adding that as of now there was no possibility for MeECL to open the flood gates of the reservoir due to over spilling.
Goyal said that due to the current level of water at the Umiam reservoir, the MeECL needs to plan power production properly and link it with the availability of the power bought from outside and the power available in the exchange at the commercial rates which are viable for the corporation.
Concerning the dues of MeECL, Goyal said that all dues of all the generating companies which the corporation is paying are up to date and that there are dues with generating companies, especially the central generating companies.
He also informed that one disputed matter of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is presently in the High Court and both MeECL and NTPC are working out a solution to settle it amicably.
“MeECL is paying all the power generating companies in time. We are trying to see that we don’t default in any of our loan payments or on the dues of central generating companies. We have opened a Letter of Credit with few of them and it has an advantage in a sense that when we make timely payment we get a better ranking in terms of overall financial stability and other parameters in which the Government of India analyses our performance,” Goyal said.
He recalled that last year the Government of India gave the ‘D’ ranking for the State which was lowest. According to him, the Power Department is trying to improve the ranking on various parameters.
Asked about the different power projects in the pipeline, Goyal said that there are many of them.
“Hydro projects do have long gestation period right from the point of identifying a certain project to the various studies which are conducted to find out the feasibility of the projects and then the involvement of various other central government agencies whether it is a Central Electricity Authority, Environmental Ministry or many other clearances which you have to obtain,” he said.
He informed that MeECL is exploring the possibility and feasibility of the Kynshi power project and Leshka (Phase II). He further informed that final preparation of the detailed project report (DPR) is being done for the Leshka project.
“Likewise, there are so many other small hydro projects of 10 MW, 15 MW or 20 MW wherein some sort of primary studies have been done and sometime back we have had a MOU with NTPC regarding these hydropower projects,” Goyal said adding that MeECL needs to seek some externally aided project to fund the various power projects which are in the pipeline.
