Shillong, Dec 5: Meghalaya government asked the Independent Power Producers Association of India (IPPAI) to explore the possibility for investment in developing ‘Shale Gas’ as a source for boosting up power generation in the state and the region even as it stressed on the need for remodelling of old pending projects.
“Meghalaya has lots of shale gas potentiality but lacks technical know how for its development,” Meghalaya Power principal secretary JP Prakash said at the conference on ‘Empowering the North East – overcoming challenges in development of the power sector in the NE India’ held in Pinewood Wednesday Shale gas is natural gas formed from being trapped within shale formations.
The conference was inaugurated by the deputy chief minister Bindo M Lanong in which experts from different companies and department shared their views and opinions on how to empower and overcoming challenges in the development of the power sector in the NE India.
the Conference organized by the IPPAI in collaboration with NEEPCO aims to benefit power producers, project developers, investors, utilities and key stakeholders in the state of the North East – Meghalaya, Assam, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.
Prakash said, “The state desire to tie-up with private power producers for developing shale gas in the state,” adding “We urge IPPAI to induce such private companies who are experts in the field to come to the state and invest in this sector.”
Stating that in view of the Power Policy 2007, Meghalaya government has signed many MoUs for power development in the state, Prakash said, “However, the state has not been able to move beyond just signing MoUs as these MoUs have failed to make any headway.”
According to Prakash, a total of 9 memorandums of understanding were signed of which 6 are hydel power projects while 3 are thermal power projects. He said, “We need modernization of new hydel power projects and remodelling of old projects for improving the power sector in the region”
Meghalaya chief secretary WMS Pariat requested the IPPAI to submit its recommendations and inputs that emerges from the conference to the state government. Saying that North East is not only a power hub for the country but for the South East region, he stressed on the need to bring the society in tune with the projects undertaken.
Pariat said, “One opportunity to power producers is to take the local people who have no dearth of talents into consideration in training and equipping them with the knowledge that such field required is important which will go a long way in developing the power projects in the region.”
Pointing out that the issue of land acquisition needs to be look into, Pariat said, “Land acquisition is a difficult aspect with the unique land tenure of the state,” adding “However, the state government ensures land for power projects are acquired through government.”- By Our Reporter
+ There are no comments
Add yours