Nagaland Power minister seeks central support to address growing energy demands

DIMAPUR — Nagaland’s Power Minister, KG Kenye, urged for increased central support to meet the state’s projected energy needs.

Attending the conference of power ministers of states and UTs in New Delhi on Tuesday, the minister highlighted the Nagaland’s energy requirements and potential, stated a press release from the power department.

Kenye expressed gratitude for the central government’s generation plan, which includes a 24% equity stake for joint venture projects and funding for associated road and bridge infrastructure. However, he emphasised Nagaland’s growing energy demands, noting that the current peak demand of 180 MW is expected to double to 360 MW by 2030.

At present, the total installed capacity of the State from all sources is 228 MW out of which the state own generation attributes for only 26 MW, he said.

Kenye urged the Union Power Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, who chaired the conference, to assist in bridging this gap and ensuring resource adequacy.

On the implementation of the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) in Nagaland, he admitted there were initial technical delays but assured that fieldwork would commence shortly. He said that after successful implementation of the scheme, the ACS and ARR gap of the department will be greatly reduced with improvement in AT&C losses and enhanced reliability and quality of power supply in the state.

Kenye was accompanied by Wabangmeren Jamir, Engineer-in-Chief (Power), and Moameren, Superintending Engineer (Transmission).

The conference also covered broader issues such as the operational performance and financial health of distribution companies (DISCOMs), resource adequacy, pumped storage projects (PSPs), battery energy storage systems (BESS), and the implementation of the PM Surya Ghar scheme, the press release stated.

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