Normal power supply in NE by May 15, says Power Grid

Nagaland received only 45-50 MW of power against the peak hour requirement of 110 MW for past few days leading to frequent supply cuts in the towns, state Power department sources said today.

Since the state gets only 16 to 18 MW from generating units within Nagaland, it has to depend heavily on electricity import. The Power department expected improvement in power situation as the state had signed an agreement to get 25 MW from Palatana thermal plant in Tripura, which is likely to be commissioned by July this year.

Severe storm damaged two 440 kv towers between Alipudwar in North Bengal and Bongaigaon in lower Assam on May 3 disrupting electricity supply to the north eastern grid from the eastern grid leading to rationing of power from the North Eastern Region Load Despatching Centre (NERLDC), Shillong to the constituent states of the region.

However, Power Grid Corporation in a release received here today said normal supply is expected to be resumed by May 14 or 15 as restoration work was on war footing.

In the meantime, as an alternate measure, the NER grid was being connected with the ER grid by two 220 kv circuits between Birpara (north Bengal) and Salakati (lower Assam), but availability of power within the region did not have much change (over the years), the release said.