Our Correspondent
Kohima, March 10 (EMN): Nagaland government on Thursday signed a power purchase agreement (PAA) with a Hyderabad-based independent power producing company to set up the first greenfield solar power project of 20MW in the state.
The agreement was signed between the Power department and M/S Halo Energie Pvt. Ltd. in the presence of Advisor for Power Tovihoto Ayemi at Hotel Vivor in Kohima.
The project will spread across 120 acres inside Ganeshnagar Industrial Area in Dimapur, and envisages generating close to 28MU per year. The initial land survey and design process have started while execution of the project is scheduled to start in mid-2022 and will take close to eight months to commission.The project cost is INR 120 crore.
Currently, Nagaland has a requirement of close to 750MU, and the majority of it is being purchased from Hydro electric generation plants.
The project is expected to add a significant number to the state’s own generation capacity, it was informed.
Advisor Ayemi said that the proposed 20MW solar plant at Ganeshnagar will be taken up under Independent Power Producer (IPP) mode by M/s Halo Energie Pvt. Limited. He said that the signing of PPA is historic as the department has not done a similar thing in the past and urged the company to complete the project on time.
Nagaland has a few generating stations owned by the govt. and few owned by private companies. For the first time, solar energy is happening with the 20 MW solar power project plant, he said.
Stating that young entrepreneurs were coming up and focusing on power sectors like biomass, thermal, and even solar projects, he encouraged them to come forward.
Today power, energy, and gas are very important elements for a state or Country. Currently, because of the Ukraine - Russian conflict there is an energy crisis in many parts of the world and there is a need to encourage power generation in the state, he added.
He further informed that the department had got the approval for the 24 MW Zungki hydro project, and the 42 MW hydro project in Lower Tizu is also under the final stage of consideration. The department has also settled the land issues relating to the 186 MW power project in Dikhu and in the next few years many projects will be coming up. Nagaland will soon have its own generating capacity of 300/400 MW, he added.
The department of Power had also brought up its power policy in 2018 under which the generation sector is well covered. Now, the power revenue is improving and the distribution and transmission systems in the state have undergone drastic improvement, he added.
While the government has tried to do its best to improve the power sector in the state, he appealed to the citizens to extend moral support to speed up power reformation that is going on in the state.
He added that the land lease MoU of 100 acres for 25 years has been signed between the department of Industries and Commerce, and the project period will also be for 25 years.
Director of M/S Halo Energie Pvt. Ltd, Himadeep Nallavadla assured that their aim is to finish the project as quickly as possible and added that many more projects are coming up. He also informed that the company would be the first to execute a project with 20MW in the North East, starting with Nagaland.
Further, he thanked the Govt. of Nagaland and all the concerned departments for their collective effort and giving the company the opportunity to build the first solar project of this scale in the state.
Secretary of Power KD Vizo said that the 20 MW solar plant was proposed to be set up at Jalukie earlier but was later shifted to Ganeshnagar. The project was started by the department of New Renewable Energy. In 2017, the Power department signed the power purchase, he informed.
The Central Government is pushing very hard for utilities and states to comply with the Renewable Power Obligation (RPO) and since Nagaland has zero solar generation at present, it is unable to comply with solar RPO. He expressed hope that the project will be helpful in fulfilling RPO obligations, the advisor said.
The power produced would be injected into the substation located inside the Ganeshnagar estate, which in turn will kick start other industries/activities.
This green power will also be a stepping stone for the Govt. in fulfilling the RPO compliance which currently stands at a target of 8.75 % (state notified target as on Dec. 2021), it was informed.
The project will be using mono/poly crystalline solar panels to generate power. The central grid inverters will be used to convert the DC power produced from the panels into AC and then stepped up to grid level voltage for smooth synchronisation. The project is also expected to create local employment for both skilled and unskilled workers.