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In a move that may remove part of the hurdles before commercial generation from the upcoming 2 X 363.3 MW gas-based power station of ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC), the Union Government has recently granted forest clearance for larger part of the Palatana (Tripura) - Silchar (Assam) leg of the transmission project, according to sources.
With this, North-East Power Transmission Company (NEPTC) — a joint venture between OTPC, Power Grid and the beneficiary States — is now enabled to complete 238 km out of a total of 246 km evacuation facility.
The clearance for an 8-km stretch inside Assam is reportdly still awaited.
The Palatana-Silchar line would help enable OTPC to utilise full capacities of the first unit, now rescheduled to be on stream in May.
Commercial production
Sources involved in power generation project commissioning suggest that commercial production from the first unit is due in July. OTPC previously rescheduled the project from December 2011 to February 2012.
Meanwhile, forest clearance on the second phase of the transmission line from Silchar to Bongaigaon in Assam is still pending.
The 415-km line, which will pass through Meghalaya and cross the Brahmaputra, will ensure evacuation from the second 363.3 MW unit, now expected to be commissioned in November 2012.
The oil and gas major ONGC in the meantime is on course to step up its production in the State from the existing 1.7 million standard cubic metre a day (mmscmd) to a little over 5 mmscmd in the hope of monetization of such resources by the power plant and the resulting inflow investment in the region.
The company has already brought a number of production wells into operation mode and is currently laying the gas transmission facilities to the OTPC power plant, which is slated to consume up to 2.8 mmscmd of gas.
“We are expecting the gas transmission facilities to OTPC be ready by February 2012,” an ONGC source said.
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