GUWAHATI: The Chief Minister during the first day of the assembly session claimed that there will not be load shedding in the coming days.
As the state was reeling under the issue of load shedding recently, there were protests across the state, the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday claimed that there has been no load shedding in the state in the past three days and it would not take place in the coming days.
Replying to an adjournment motion moved by the opposition Congress, CPI-M, and Raijor Dal on the prevailing power situation in the state on the first day of the autumn session of the state assembly, Sarma said the state has nearly exhausted power generation capacity from its own sources as the huge spike in demand for electricity this year has caught it off-guard.
Sarma claimed that the state government has arranged for procurement of more power to meet the demand at regular rates, while long-term arrangements are being made by entering into pacts with different power generation companies.
The electricity demand in the state was 1535 MW in peak hours during 2016. It had gone up to 1600 MW in 2020-21. Suddenly it has gone up to 1970 MW in September 2023.
“We expect that the electricity demand in peak hour will be 3000MW by 2024 and it will go up to 4000 MW by 2026,” Sarma said.
“After I assumed charge as chief minister of the state, only 5 MW load shedding was recorded in 2021-22. There was no report of load shedding in 2022,” he claimed.
“Our deficit is only 3MW to 5 MW. But suddenly, the deficit has gone up to 700 MW in the first three days of September. But there is no deficit in the last three days. There will not be a power deficit in the state in the coming days,” Sarma said.
He claimed that the power deficit in Assam is less than other states of the country.
Assam produces only 400 MW of electricity out of 2500 MW of electricity demand during peak hours.
Sarma alleged that the previous government had done nothing to improve the electricity generation according to its demand in the state.
“Now there is no scope of electricity generation in the state to meet the demand. There is no water resource, all rivers are drying up. There is no sufficient stock of coal for thermal power production. If we set up a power plant at Margherita, it will pose a threat to the biodiversity of the area,” Sarma said.
“We will get 25MW electricity from Karbi Langpi power projects which will be commissioned from next year. We will also get 50 MW electricity from the Lower Kopili project from the next year,” he also said.
There will be an additional 400 MW of electricity consumed by Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) as the expansion of the refinery is going on.
“There is no feasibility of gas-based power project. We have no alternative but solar projects. But the solar projects can’t generate electricity during night hours. We will go for electricity production in Kulsi River of Meghalaya government clears the project,” he said.
