Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma concerned over power supply in state, urges for mix of production to meet demand

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on July 7 raised concerns over the stable supply of energy as the state currently faces a 30 per cent deficit in supply of power.

He said that until and unless there is a mix of production, it will be impossible for the state to provide complete stable sources of energy in the long run.

Speaking to media persons, Sangma said the state requires about 1,700 million units of power every year out of which its own production is about 1000 to 1100 million units of power every year and hence, there is a shortfall of about 600 to 700 million units.

He said that the shortfall is normally met by the share the State gets from central agencies and rest is bought from the market. “Hence, that is the kind of situation we face. So approximately about 30% deficiency in terms of the requirement of the thing is there but that is one part,” he explained.

“The second part of the problem we face is that since everything is hydro based and whenever the water level is low it affects all the units including the central units also. Hence, until and unless we have a mix of production it is not possible to really give complete stable sources of energy in the long run,” he added.

Stating that it is a very complicated problem, Sangma said, “But we are on the job and I have given some idea about the kind of difficult decisions that we need to make and we are sitting on it and we have started the process of solar aspect. Again, solar is not a stable supply; it is something that depends on the sunshine that is available. Hence all these factors have to be looked into and we are hopeful we are able to slowly and steadily start finding more concrete solutions to these issues.”

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