The West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL), state-owned power generating company, is planning to foray into hydel power with an investment of Rs 2,000 crore.
“We are thinking to set up two hydel power projects. At present, we are in the process of finalising the detailed project report,” State Power Minister, Mr Manish Gupta, told PTI.
He said there is a plan for two hydel projects with a combined generation capacity of 300 MW and the sites have already been finalised.
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.
Project benefits
The combined investment in both the hydel projects would be Rs 2,000 crore. The project will have twin benefits to help improve better thermal/hydel mix of the state which is heavily tilted towards thermal power.
Secondly, the project will go a long way in the development of North Bengal with the Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, laying emphasis for investment for job creation in the 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 power projects in Bhutan but those never took off beyond the planning stage.
The total installed capacity of West Bengal is 7,501 MW, of which, 4,170 MW is generated by WBPDCL which caters to bulk of the state’s power supply.