Nagaland’s Minister for Power and Parliamentary Affairs, KG Kenye, attended the Conference of Power Ministers from States and Union Territories in New Delhi on November 12, 2024. The conference was chaired by Union Minister for Power, Housing & Urban Affairs, Manohar Lal Khattar.
Kenye expressed gratitude to the Union Minister for initiating a Generation Plan that grants 24% equity for projects to be implemented as Joint Ventures (JV). He also thanked the Ministry of Power for including funding for roads and bridges within the plan.
Highlighting the state’s power requirements, Kenye noted that Nagaland’s peak demand currently stands at 180 MW and is expected to double to 360 MW by 2030. At present, the state’s total installed capacity from all sources is 228 MW, with only 26 MW generated locally. Due to this limited generation capacity, Nagaland relies heavily on central sector allocations, with the shortfall met through expensive energy markets. To address this dependency, the state is prioritizing the development of its generation projects.
Kenye urged the Union Minister to support measures to bridge Nagaland’s power demand gap and ensure resource adequacy for the projected growth by 2030.
Regarding the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), the Minister acknowledged technical challenges that delayed the project. With most issues resolved, he assured that fieldwork would commence soon. Once implemented, he noted that the scheme would significantly reduce the gap between Average Cost of Supply (ACS) and Average Revenue Realized (ARR), improve Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses, and enhance the reliability and quality of power supply across Nagaland.
The conference discussions covered topics including the operational performance and financial viability of DISCOMs, resource adequacy, pumped storage projects (PSP), and battery energy storage systems (BESS). Implementation updates on RDSS and PM Surya Ghar were also reviewed.
Kenye was accompanied by Er Wabangmeren Jamir, Engineer-in-Chief (Power), and Er Moameren, Superintending Engineer (Transmission).