Team Herald
PONDA: Soon, the State will generate hydropower from the water collected in abandoned mining quarries, while solar panels will be installed on Plaine mining pits to generate solar power, said Power Minister Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar.
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He said they would employ new technology to recycle the huge quantity of water from abandoned mining pits to produce renewable hydroelectricity, and the Plaine mining pits that are spread across an area of over 50,000 sq mts would be used to produce solar power, within the next six months. Both these projects were recently approved at a Power Conference at Delhi, and a team from IIT-Delhi will soon visit Goa to get started on them, the Minister added.
Dhavalikar was speaking after laying the foundation stone for underground power cabling for three panchayats of the Shiroda Constituency, costing Rs 4.75 crore. Stressing on the urgent need for shifting overhead power lines underground in forested and agricultural areas, and the tourist belt, Dhavalikar said that he had managed to increase the revenue of the Power Department by 40 percent over the past six months, and managed to get crores of Central funding for underground cabling and building new substations.
The Minister explained that power conductors in the State are prone to rusting, due to the close proximity to the saline ocean and the Zuari and Mandovi rivers that traverse the State. “I have pointed this issue out to Central government officials, and a team of experts will arrive in Goa within a month to inspect the riverside and coastal villages, following which we hope to get a Central sanction of 60 percent of the funds needed for underground cabling.
“To supply power to around 150 houses on the Terekhol side of the river, underwater power cables will be laid from Kiranpani to Terekhol,” the Minister added.
