West Bengal Power Corp plans Rs 2000 cr hydel projects

The project will help improve better thermal/hydel mix of the state which is heavily tilted toward thermal power.

The West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL),state-owned power generating company,was planning to foray into hydel power with an investment of Rs 2,000 crore. “We are thinking to set up a hydel power project. At present,we are in process of finalising the detailed project report,” state power minister Manish Gupta told PTI.

He said there was plan for two hydel projects with

combined generation capacity of 300 MW and the sites have already been finalised.

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While one hydel project of 200-220 MW capacity will come

up at the confluence of Rangit and Teesta rivers,the other

80-100 MW project will be set up close to Coronation or Sevoke bridge near Siliguri on Teesta,the minister said.

The combined investment in both the hydel projects would be Rs 2,000 crore.

The project will have twin benefits,to help improve

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better thermal/hydel mix of the state which is heavily tilted

toward thermal power. Secondly,the project will go a long way in development of north Bengal with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee laying emphasis for investment for job creation in backward regions of north Bengal districts like Darjeeling.

Moreover,after the Katwa thermal project was transferred to NTPC due to land acquisition problem,hydel power projects seem to be more viable as land would not act as

any hurdle.

In the past WBPDCL had attempted to foray into hydel

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power projects in Bhutan but those never took off beyond the

planning stage.

The total installed capacity of Bengal is 7501 MW,of

which,4170 MW is generated by WBPDCL which caters to bulk of the state¿s power supply.