After Bangladesh, Tripura supplying power to Nepal
Agartala: After Bangladesh, Tripura is supplying 40 MW of electricity to Nepal, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma said here on Wednesday.
"We have been supplying 40 MW of electricity to Nepal since April. As Tripura has surplus electricity, we are exporting power to Nepal besides Bangladesh," Dev Varma, who also holds the power portfolio, told the media.
Tripura had started supplying 100 MW of power to Bangladesh from the state-owned ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC) power plant in March 2016. The power supply has now increased to 190 MW.
A senior engineer of the Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) told IANS that through the North Eastern Regional Load Dispatch Centre (NERLDC), the electricity has been supplied to Nepal from a mega transmission system in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.
The NERLDC is the apex body to ensure integrated operation of the power system in the northeast.
"The NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) is the nodal agency to supply power to Nepal from Tripura power projects," the engineer said on the condition of anonymity.
He said that electricity was being supplied to Bangladesh at Rs 5.50 per unit while the rate for Nepal is Rs 4.30 per unit.
The engineer said that the electricity has been supplied to Bangladesh, Nepal and most of the northeastern states from the 726 MW generation capacity OTPC power plant at Palatana in southern Tripura, 65 km south of Agartala.
The OTPC, a joint venture company of ONGC, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd, IDFC bank and the Tripura government, set up the 726-MW project at Palatana in June 2013.
According to officials, the OTPC's combined cycle power plant, which is the largest gas-based power plant in the northeast, is meeting around 35 per cent of the power requirement of seven northeastern states, excluding Sikkim.
The Rs 10,000 crore Palatana power plant is an example of the cooperation between New Delhi and Dhaka, which ensured the passage of heavy project equipment and turbines to Palatana in southern Tripura through Bangladesh territory.