New Security Force For Hydel Projects in Sikkim

Sikkim Power Rangers To provide securities to Hydro Power Project Units

Gangtok: The State Government will soon be forming a security force for hydel projects in the State and will be a separate police force trained and deployed to the different hydel electric projects in State .At present, Home-Guards are posted at various hydel projects for their securities.
The need for such a force is required primarily for the safeguard of dams, power-houses, and colonies which would come up with implementation of various power projects in Sikkim. The explosive materials housed by such power developers are also vulnerable to the theft and needs professional guards.The State Security force will be trained by the police .
The Power developers have been asked to forward their requirements ,after which the total strength of the force will be decided by the government .Only locals will be recruited in the Force.Their salaries will be provided by the power developers.Also connected with electricity ,the State Government has decided that all micro hydel projects shall henceforth be taken up by the Energy and Power department .This is a revision of a decision taken earlier by the State government by which it had directed that all such projects up to 500 KW capacity be taken up by the Sikkim Renewable Energy Development Agency(SREDA).
Such Mini hydel projects are chiefly aimed for the benefits of small communities; the main reason for this reversal of decision is high cost of small HEPs. HEPs have faced financial problems as regards to Investments due to its high costs therefore government has now decided that Power &Energy department itself would provide funds for undertaking these projects and also have option to lay down transmission lines connecting such small projects to the main grind transmitting the power supplies to all over state for better management of peak hour supplies .

100% FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN HYDRO POWER PROJECTS IN SIKKIM PERMITTED

THAILAND,SINGAPORE DELEGATIONS ON NORTH EAST VISIT SHOWN KEEN INTERESTS TO INVEST IN HYDRO POWER SECTOR

Delhi: 100% Foreign Direct Investment has already been permitted on the automatic approval route in respect of projects relating to electricity generation, transmission and distribution (other than Atomic Energy power plants) including hydro-based electricity projects in Sikkim and other parts of the country. In addition, fiscal incentives are also available under the mega power policy, subject to compliance of certain conditions. Under the mega policy, a lower qualifying capacity has been provided for the states of J&K, Sikkim and the North-Eastern States at a minimum 350 MW for hydel power projects and 700 MW for thermal power projects as compared to a minimum of 500 MW for hydel power projects and 1000 MW for thermal power projects in the other parts of the country.
This information was given by the Power Minister Shri Sushilkumar Shinde in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

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India targets 16,553 mw of hydropower in 11th Five Year

Power sector needs Rs 10.31 lakh cr in 11th plan: Shinde

New Delhi, Aug 13: The power sector will require Rs 10,31,600 crore investment during 2007-12 to add generation capacity, besides creating and upgrading transmission and distribution networks, Rajya Sabha was informed today. "The working on power for the 11th plan has estimated a total fund requirement Rs 10,31,600 crore for power sector as a whole. For creation of projected capacity addition, fund requirement has been assessed at Rs 4,10,900 crore," Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said in a written reply. Out of the proposed capacity addition of 78,500 mw during the 11th plan, 1,870 mw has already been commissioned and another 50,975 mw is under construction, he said. "With the projected capacity in place and through energy conservation measures, the gap between demand and supply of electricity is likely to be bridged gradually during the course of 11th plan," he said. He said Rural Electrification Corporation and Power Finance Corporation have geared up to mobilize funds to ensure that viable projects do not suffer for want of resources. To another question, Shinde said the government is targeting to add 16,553 mw of hydropower in 11th Five Year Plan with an estimated investment of about Rs 78,100 crore. The country has so far developed 30,951 mw of hydel power generation capacity and 14,951 mw was under development, he added.

GOVT. OF INDIA LAUNCHES ONLINE MONITORING OF HYDRO POWER PROJECTS

New Delhi, August 12: The Union Minister for Power SushilKumar Shinde today launched "Hydropowernet", a web based Management Information System (MIS) of the Ministry, in a function in New Delhi. Hydropowernet, an outcome of efforts put in by a dedicated team over the last one and a half years is a web based application conceptualized and operationalised by the Ministry of Power, for on-line monitoring of Hydro Power Projects and provides a platform for data sharing between various Hydro Utilities, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and the Ministry of Power (MOP). All major organisations which facilitate hydropower development and execution in the central sector have been integrated in the Hydropower-net namely MOP, CEA and Central Hydro Utilities viz. NHPC, SJVNL, BBMB, NTPC, NEEPCO, DVC. This web based application has been hosted at http://hydropowernet.gov.in on the storage Area Network of National Informatics Centre (NIC) for round the clock secured access with application level security through passwords. Hydropower-net has remote data updation facility for all the Central Hydro Power Utilities from the remote project sites itself and most of the data is made available on-line directly from the project site itself. In addition to on-line availability of extensive drilldown data on project construction activities, data is also available on generation, outages, collection of dues etc. for the Hydro stations in operations. The available information acts as a valuable Management Information Tool (MIS) and also provides inputs for informed decision making.