18-07-2012, 02:38 PM
POWER POLICY ABOUT MEGHALAYA
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Meghalaya, "the abode of clouds", became a full-fledged State on January 21, 1972. It is
bounded on the north and on the east by the state of Assam. On the south and west is
Bangladesh. Meghalaya lies between 20° l' N and 26° 5'N latitude and 85° 49'E and
92°52'E longitude.
The total area of the State is 22,429 square Kilometres with a population of 23,18,822
(2001 census). The population density per square kilometre is 103. They are
predominantly inhabited by the tribal communities namely the Khasis, the Jaintias and
the Garos, who are the descendants of very ancient people having distinctive traits and
ethnic origins.The principal languages in Meghalaya are Khasi and Garo with English as
the official language of the State. Khasi and Garo languages and literature have developed
mainly because of the initiative of the Christian Missionaries. The State has a unicameral
legislature.
The northern section of the plateau has an undulating topography with a series of hills
rising to almost the same height, extending northward to slope gradually, merging with
the plains of Assam. The accordant summit of these hills varies from 170m to 820m.
Nongpoh village lying half way on the Guwahati-Shillong Road stands on a flat top of
70m high on this hill section.
The height of the central plateau of the Khasi Hills hovers around 1500m with the
Shillong Peak (1965m), the highest point in the plateau, overlooking Shillong Town. The
Garo Hills which form the western part of Meghalaya are lower in elevation. The greater
part of the Garo Hills range in height from 450m to 600m and drop steeply to the
Brahmaputra valley on the north and to the plains of Bangladesh on the south. Nokrek
Peak (1412m), east of Tura Town, is the highest peak in western Meghalaya.
POWER SCENARIO IN THE STATE - THEN
1. The first power project in Meghalaya is a mini- hydel project in the northern part
of Shillong established in 1925 with an installation capacity of 3x125 KVA T.G.
sets utilizing the drop of the wah Umkhrah at Beadon falls. Subsequently, this
power station at Sonapani was enlarged in stages with 3 (three) more sets of
different capacities adding 1600KVA to the installed capacity. This privately own
hydro-electric power station catered to the need of Shillong city since 1925 and
was in operation until April, 1982.
2. The first small hydro-electric project in the North-East, the Umtru H. E. Project
with 8.4 MW was constructed near Byrnihat in 1953 and was commissioned in
July, 1957. Umiam Stage-I, Stage-II, Umiam-Umtru Stage-III (Kyrdemkulai) and
Umiam-Umtru Stage-IV were also commissioned in Meghalaya. Until the
commissioning of the Loktak H.E. Project in Manipur and Kopili H.E. Project in
Assam, the state of Meghalaya pioneered the development of water power
generation.
3. Prior to commissioning of the Umiam H.E. Project Stage-I in 1965 the electric
power supply needs of Shillong were met from small hydro mentioned above and
diesel power stations of capacity 1500 KW and 800 KW respectively. The diesel
sets have since been disposed off and the small hydro sets have spent their life.
4. The electric energy generated by Meghalaya during the year 1975 was 176MU
and 70% of that was supplied to Assam at a very nominal rate as envisaged in the
terms of agreement during bifurcation. At that point of time, only Shillong, the
capital city and few places like Sumer, Byrnihat and other towns / villages
numbering only 261 enjoyed electricity. As a matter of fact, the consumers of the
whole state numbered just 7400, while the rest of the population depended on
fossil fuel and some diesel power generation for cooking, heating and even
lighting.
5. The responsibility for power supply in the area of the present day State of
Meghalaya was under Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) and after bifurcation
in 1975, the Meghalaya State Electricity Board (MeSEB) came into existence on
21st January, 1975.
POWER POLICY OBJECTIVE
Power is a critical infrastructure for the socio-economic development. Efforts at
accelerating the rate of economic growth in the new globalize economy dependent on the
availability of adequate, reliable and quality power at competitive rates. Therefore, the
basic responsibility of the “Electricity Industry” is to provide adequate power at
economical cost, while ensuring reliable and quality supply.
Development of power industry is essential for the sustainable development of the
country. The Govt. of Meghalaya is committed to this onerous task and is doing its best
to develop the hydro power potential and the thermal power potential in a phase manner
in synchronization with the requirement.
Exploitation of the hydro, thermal and non-conventional potential can make Meghalaya
State one of the prosperous States in the country. Growth in the Electricity Industry in the
State will provide adequate, reliable and quality power at competitive rates to the
consumers of the State to match with the new globalize economy. The revenue from
trading and royalty would provide necessary inputs for other developments in the State.
It is an undisputable fact that there exist an immediate need for a thermal power plant to
provide the much needed base-load power which will tide over the present power deficit
situation in the State. The problems associated with inter and intra State transmission
network needs to be addressed simultaneously.
GENERATION
In order to meet the increasing power demand and to harness the untapped power
potential of the State, both hydro and thermal, the Govt. of Meghalaya has
decided to involve the State Sector, Joint Sector, Central Sector and Private
Sector for execution of power projects.
THERMAL POWER PROJECTS DEVELOPMENT
The State has a coal reserve of about 564 million tonnes, the calorific value of
which ranges from 5694 kcal /kg to 9772 kcal/kg. The sulphur content of the
coal ranges from 1.8% to 7.1% and the ash content ranges from 1.3% to 62%.
The major coal reserves are in the southern belt of the State. Very close to these
major coal reserves, there are huge quantities of limestone which is estimated at
about 1000 million tonnes. Thus there is ample scope to develop thermal power
stations to meet the baseload demand of the State. The detailed coal mine
spreading over the state is enclosed at ANNEXURE – V.