SHILLONG, JUL 3: With June rainfall well below normal, the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) has shifted its generation plan to rely more on thermal and solar power, Commissioner & Secretary in charge of Power, Sanjay Goyal, said on Friday.
He assured that power supply across the state will remain stable through July and August despite the deficit in hydro generation. “Of course, the rainfall this year has been less than what was expected, and that has been confirmed by the IMD as well,” Goyal said.
“If you talk about the previous month, which is June, generally a month of good rainfall, that has seen a definite deficit.”
He said the department has already adjusted to the shortfall.
“Because of this, MeECL has reworked its entire strategy for power generation, and we have activated our requirement from our long-term thermal procurement agreements as well as the power we are procuring from solar generators,” he said.
“So, we have slightly ramped that up in view of the rainfall deficit.”
The weak monsoon has hit the Umiam reservoir system, which anchors much of Meghalaya’s hydel capacity.
“In the Umiam basin, unfortunately, the rainfall has been less,” Goyal said.
“What we planned in the month of June, keeping in mind a certain amount of rainfall, did not work out. So we have reworked the plan.”
Umiam Stage I, which usually runs at its full 36-megawatt capacity this time of year, is operating below capacity.
“We are not doing that because the replenishment of water we expected in June through inflows did not happen,” he explained.
“That has slightly brought down our production from Umiam Stage I and, accordingly, all the stages up to Stage IV and New Umtru downstream.”
Despite lower hydro output, Goyal said there is no risk of a power shortage.
“Overall, our situation remains quite comfortable in the sense that we have already tied up for the months of July and August by managing our power production and managing energy procurement from outside the state through various agencies,” he said.
“I don’t foresee any shortfall as far as power availability is concerned,” he added.
“Maybe we have to look at the composition of power, which includes hydro, thermal, wind, and solar. That we have slightly changed in view of the lesser rainfall this year so far.”
