GUWAHATI, Aug 21 � The violent incidents in the Bodoland Territorial Administrative Districts (BTAD) areas may delay the commissioning of the 250-MW first unit of the 750-MW Bongaigaon Thermal Power Station (BTPS) by another six months to 12 months, said sources in the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) here.
Initially, the first of the three units of the underconstruction BTPS was scheduled to be commissioned by November 2011 while the second unit of the project was scheduled to be commissioned by the fag end of 2012. The third unit of the project was scheduled to be commissioned by May-June 2013.
The State is to get around 380 MW of power from the project. Of it, it is to get around 150 MW of power from the first unit of the project, sources said.
The violent incidents that have taken place in the BTAD areas have made the labourers engaged in the construction of the project leave for their respective homes or for the relief camps. This has posed the threat of delaying the commissioning of the project, sources added.
However, the redeeming feature is that the 363-MW first unit of the ONGC-Tripura Power Corporation�s 726-MW gas-based Palatana Project will be on trial run by September 10 next. Assam is to get 120 MW of power from this unit if it is run on full-capcacity.
Already a 400-Kv power line to connect Palatana with Bongaigaon has been drawn up to Silchar and it will route through Byrnihat and Kukurmara to carry Palatana power to Bongaigaon in the long run.
The Palatana power is expected to meet the off-peak load hour power demand of 60 MW and peak load hour power demand of 80 MW to 90 MW of Barak Valley. The rest amount of the Palatana power would be evacuated to the Brahmaputra Valley through the existing 132 Kv line.
The 400-Kv line will be drawn from Silchar to Bongaigaon with the second unit of the project being commissioned within a year, sources said.
Meanwhile, the State today faced a shortfall of 180 MW of power during the off-peak load hour and 280 MW of power during the peak load hour. It has procured 200 MW of power from the power exchange today to meet the power demand during the evening hours, sources said.
