During its seventh meeting of the year, the Cabinet of Arunachal Pradesh gave approval to a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with a Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) to develop hydropower within the state.
According to a report, this MoA will pave the way for unlocking the potential of five hydroelectric projects, which have a combined installed capacity of 2820 MW. The Cabinet is confident that this move will bring significant investment to the state and create employment opportunities. Additionally, the state government will maintain ownership of the hydropower projects, which have an installed capacity of 2823 MW, that will be handed over to two CPSUs as part of the agreement.
Two of the five projects, namely the Naying project with a capacity of 1,000 MW and the Hirong project with a capacity of 500 MW, will be given to the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO), while the Emini project with a capacity of 500 MW, the Amulin project with a capacity of 420 MW, and the Minundon project with a capacity of 400 MW will be given to Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited.
Over the next five to seven years, these projects will require a total investment of Rs 40,000 crore, with an expected yearly revenue of approximately Rs 500 crore and Rs 100 crore for local area development (LAD).
In addition, the Cabinet approved a plan of action to commence work on 13 priority projects with a total generation capacity of 12,343 MW. These projects will require an investment of Rs 1.5 lakh crore and generate revenue of Rs 2,000 crore for the state, as well as Rs 350 crore per year for LAD. Arunachal Pradesh has set the objective of contributing significantly to India’s goal of increasing its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts through these projects.
