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Eastern states moot regional tarrif

KOLKATA, 30 AUG: Pitching a strong demand for ‘climate compensation’, Mr SP Gon Chowdhury, managing director of West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation (WBGEDC), today said that the feed in tariff fixed by the Centre should be revised.
For this, a letter and a technical paper, prepared with the help of experts and students of Bengal Engineering and Science University (Besu), to Dr Farooq Abdullah, Union minister for new and renewable energy, in less than 10 days, said Mr Gon Chowdhury who was speaking on the sidelines of a seminar on renewable energy organised by the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industries in a city hotel today. He also spoke to Dr Abdullah, who was present at the seminar, about this.
Mr Gon Chowdhury said that even though West Bengal is a pioneer in Solar Energy generation, because of its climactic condition, it receives lesser solar radiation. And tariff and Power Purchase Agreement duration as fixed by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission is likely to deprive the state of all the investments as Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana leads in terms of power generation.
He said that since their power generation would be more, the western states would be able to give discount to power distribution agencies attracting projects. All the directors of the Green Energy Development Corporations in Eastern states recently met and discussed the problem. “We need to have regional tariff system and so we are preparing a technical document which would state the reasons scientifically. We would handover the document to Dr Abdullah very soon,” he said.
“West Bengal can play a major role in meeting the Nation Solar Mission target. The tidal power project in Sunderbans alone has a potential of 1200 MW,” said Dr Abdullah. Micro-hydels projects on streams and canals would be a success in the state, he said adding that such projects are currently being tried in Punjab. Each micro-hydel project has a potential to generate as much as 25 MW power.
Solar generators would replace Diesel generator in over 100 telecom towers as a demonstration programme. The Army alone uses diesel worth Rs 1,200 crore every year. It has to be reduced and that can only be done by solar and wind energy, he said.

Soma Basu

Soma Basu

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