The government of Meghalaya is aggressively looking for private investment to increase power generation in order to meet the state’s growing need for electricity. A T Mondal, the minister of power, announced on Tuesday that the state has implemented a new power policy aimed at luring private producers to generate energy locally. Although ongoing land issues have hindered progress, the state has already awarded the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) a hydel power project.
One percent of the project’s power will be used for local area development, while the remaining twelve percent will be given to the state for free. Mondal emphasized the necessity of generating power locally in order to avoid the high expense of importing it, given that the demand for electricity is rising by 11% annually. “We need to ensure we generate power locally to meet this demand,” he stated. According to the Minister, a number of businesses are already negotiating and signing contracts to be included in the project.
He clarified that although private enterprises are not required to sell power to the state, there will be a “right of refusal” clause for larger projects. This implies that if the state does not require power, it may choose not to purchase it. “All the details of the policy are on our website,” Mondal stated. In order to prevent future shortages and guarantee a steady power supply for the state in the long run, the Meghalaya government is trying to draw investment into the energy sector as the demand for power continues to rise.
