Tripura mulls supplying power to Nepal: Power Minister R L Nath

Tripura, one of the electricity-surplus states in the Northeast region, is keen to supply power to Nepal, state Power and Agriculture Minister Ratan Lal Nath said on Friday.

The minister shared this information after inaugurating the 132 KV Gokulnagar electricity sub-station under the North Eastern Region (NER) Power System Improvement Project at the Gokulnagar Rastarmatha Sports Ground in Sepahijala district.

He said that a plan is underway to export power from Tripura to Nepal, and for that, a meeting was held in New Delhi on Friday, as the Central government will take the final call.

Though Tripura does not share a border with Nepal, the Himalayan nation shares a 1,751 km-long border with five Indian states -- Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

Tripura, which shares an 856 km border with Bangladesh, is currently supplying over 100 MW of electricity to the neighbouring country.

Tripura started supplying 100 MW of power to Bangladesh from the state-owned ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC) power plant in southern Tripura’s Gomati district in March 2016.

The supply sometimes goes up to 160 MW, an official of the Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) said.

He said: “After the first agreement in 2016, we subsequently renewed the agreement twice to continue the supply of electricity to Bangladesh.”

He added that the Bangladesh government recently requested the TSECL to supply at least 250 MW of electricity to help meet its growing power demand. The final decision on Bangladesh’s fresh proposal has not yet been taken, the official said.

Power Minister Nath said that with the availability of natural gas decreasing, the TSECL is introducing new technologies to enhance generation efficiency.

“With the help of the World Bank, Rs 935 crore is being invested to double power generation using the same amount of gas through combined cycle gas turbine technology at Rokhia in Sepahijala district.

“We have also decided to set up an 800 MW pumped storage power project at Chawmanu in Dhalai district, and the preparation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) is underway,” he said.

The minister added that a 400 KV sub-station will be set up at Suryamani Nagar, near here, as Tripura continues to supply power to Bangladesh.

He further said that the state government has taken ambitious initiatives to cover all government offices with rooftop solar power plants to meet their electricity requirements.