Kosal Discussion and Development Forum

Three more hydropower projects to come up in Sambalpur, Sonepur and Boudh districts

July 23, 2011 at 9:35 am sanjibkarmee Leave a comment

Following report is from expressbuzz.com:

BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Thursday signed an MoU with the NHPC for setting up three hydropower projects down Hirakud reservoir on the Mahanadi.

The next step would be setting up a joint venture company (JVC) between the Stateowned Orissa Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) and NHPC for implementation of Sindol1 (100 MW), SindolII (100 MW) and SindolIII (120 MW) hydroelectric project in the first phase.

The three projects having installed capacity of 320 MW entail an investment of ` 2,600 cr with annual energy generation of 1,090 million units. ”The State’s hydro generation capacity is 2,142 MW which is very less compared to its hydro power potential. As hydro power is the cleanest form of renewable energy and also cheapest, we need to strive hard to harness as much hydro power to bring down the energy tariff,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said.

With least impact on environment and least inconvenience to public as compared to thermal power projects, the three hydel projects will be constructed within four to five years time, he added.

The projects under the JVC would be set up in Sambalpur, Sonepur and Boudh districts with zero displacement and no damage to the local ecology, said Minister of State for Energy Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak.

NHPC would have 51 per cent stake and OHPC 49 per cent. The State will get 12 per cent free power and one per cent of the cost of power generation is to be spent on periphery development activities, Nayak said. The MoU was signed by Energy Secretary G Mathivathanan, OHPC managing director Sahadev Khatua and NHPC’s CMD ABL Srivastav.

Even as the Government had taken several steps for establishment of many thermal power stations, the MoU with NHPC is significant as it would be Central PSU’s first hydropower generation project in the State, Finance Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei said.

The State Government had earlier signed MoUs with 29 private companies for setting up thermal power units with installed capacity of 38,000 MW. The OPGC and a joint venture company between OHPC and OMC are also planning to set up a thermal power plant, Chief Secretary BK Patnaik said.

Entry filed under: Boudh, Industries and mineral resources, Infrastructure, Region watch, Renewable energy, Sambalpur, Subarnapur, Water Resources.