SHILLONG:
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday said following the recent signing of the agreement, the portfolio of power that the state has will now be managed by the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC).
Speaking to reporters, Sangma said the NTPC produces approximately 75,000 MW of power.
“They (NTPC) produce close to 1000 million units a day and hence their portfolio is very widespread. They have solar, thermal, hydro and other sources. Hence, when we deal with NTPC and through them we are technically talking to a wholesaler instead of talking to individual producers and buying power randomly once in a while from here and there. So now we will have a wholesale provider,” he said while adding “the agency or the trading wing of the NTPC which has an expertise in trading, we feel that with the same amount of money that we are spending today we will be able to actually get a better portfolio of power and that will allow us to give more stability in the coming days and months.”
“We are working very hard to ensure that this deal with the NTPC for the trading and portfolio management will allow us to stabilise our supply and the need of our power supply to a large scale,” Sangma added.
Citing an example, the chief minister said, “Now NTPC has got large solar power plants and at the same time they have got large companies which are dealing with solar power.
“Now during day time once we have trading agreement with the NTPC, NTPC can mix our portfolio in such a manner that during the day time when the solar power is being produced in Gujarat or Rajasthan that we will be able to get the rates at Rs 2 or Rs 3, during that time stop the production here in the hydro plants so that we can use that power generation in the evening when the solar power is not there.
“So the same amount, the same power but the mix will be different, the timing will be different as the source has been broadened out and hence we expect that we will be able to come up with a much more stable scenario in the future,” he further explained.
Meanwhile, the chief minister informed that the state government has also asked the NTPC to study the pump-based system.
“This is a new technology that involves pumping of the water which is released from Umiam and collected at the bottom and pumping it back to Umiam lake during day time using solar power which comes at a very low rate…and then produce power once again with the same water and produce it during the high peak time like evening at 8 or 10 pm.
“If this trading can take place in a very efficient manner, we could see NTPC and MeECL may be able to start earning some revenue out of this,” he said. According to him, the government will examine the feasibility of the pump-based project.