ITANAGAR, Jun 11: Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein urged the officers of the hydropower development department and the Arunachal Pradesh Energy Development Agency (APEDA) to work harder to meet the domestic power requirement of the state within three years, and set the target of self-sufficiency by 2024.
Addressing a review meeting of the departments at his secretariat office here on Tuesday, Mein advised the departments to “reduce the electricity purchase expenditure to the extent of 100 percent” by the end of three years.
The officers informed the DCM that Arunachal has the capacity to generate 40 percent power requirement of the nation “but only produces one percent of the state’s potential in this sector.”
Mein said the government is ready to provide fund for repair and maintenance of non-operational hydropower stations in the state, but asked the officers to “show results by generating revenue from those hydel power stations.”
Hydropower Development CE (P&D) P Tupe informed that out of the 126 hydel power stations being operated by the department, only 70 power stations are operational, generating 10 mw in a year, out of the total capacity of 65 mw.
Tupe also informed that the department has earned revenue of Rs 35 crore from 10 mw power generation. He gave assurance that the department would meet the state’s basic power requirement for domestic consumption within three years as it aims to generate 195 mw power through small hydroelectric projects of 25 mw capacity.
The CEs of the eastern and western zones, and the mechanical and general manager of the state Hydro-Power Development Corporation (HPDC) made PowerPoint presentations of their respective jurisdictions.
APEDA Director M Loya presented the proposed policy for micro and mini hydropower projects for the state government, which aims to involve the village panchayats and NGOs in harnessing renewable energy sources.
HPDC Chairman Tungri Effa and Power Commissioner GS Meena also gave their inputs. (DCMO)
