NEEPCO Eyes APGCL's Lower Kopili Hydro Electric Project

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources India (Delhi, India)--State-owned North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) (Shillong, Meghalaya) is drawing up plans to regain its stake in the development of the proposed 120-megawatt (MW) Lower Kopili Hydro Electric Project in Assam. The power enterprise, which has earlier lost the project, is now looking for an opportunity to enter into a Joint Venture (JV) with Assam Power Generation Corporation Limited (APGCL) (Guwahati, Assam), the present owner of the project.

NEEPCO and APGCL are the leading power producers in the North Eastern India. While NEEPCO is a Central Sector power utility, APGCL is run by the state Government of Assam. NEEPCO has recently sent a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to APGCL expressing its keen interest in entering into a JV with the latter.

Lower Kopili hydroelectric project has been proposed to be developed as a storage-based scheme on the Kopili River at Longku in the east of Karbi Anglong and west of North Cachar Hills districts in the northeastern state of Assam.

The Government of Assam had awarded the project to NEEPCO in 1996 for survey and investigation and preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR). Owing to much delay in completion of the necessary studies the state in 2006 decided to return the project to APGCL for planning, development and implementation.

Lower Kopili is a downstream project of the existing Kopili project and it envisages utilization of the regulated discharge from Kopili power station as well as spillway discharges form Khandong and Umrong dams.

The project had earlier been conceived with a capacity of 150 MW comprising of three generation units of 50 MW each. Reportedly, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) (New Delhi) of India had returned the DPR for the project suggesting revision of the Hydrological and Power Potential Studies (PPS) to maintain 'Minimum Environmental Flow'. As per the revised PPS, the proposed project will now have an installed capacity of 2x55 MW for the main power house and 10 MW for the auxiliary power house with designed energy generation potential of 437.68 Million Units (MU) and 39.03 MU respectively.

APGCL has submitted an updated DPR for the revised capacity to CEA for acquiring Techno Economic Clearance (TEC). Concurrence of CEA is awaited. The power utility has also applied to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) (New Delhi) to obtain Terms of Reference (ToR) for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Study.

NEEPCO is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) operating under the aegis of India's Union Ministry of Power. The Corporation has so far executed five hydro electric projects and two gas-based power projects with a total installed capacity of 1,130 MW, which is approximately 55% of the total installed capacity of the northeastern India.

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