This is in response to a brainstorming article by Engineer A. X. Esmeraldo Gomes on Sunday Herald, November 4, with regards to the technical drawbacks of power transmission project as proposed by the State government.
His suggestion as an alternative to replace the power transmission project by complete power generation plant needs to be studied. We have the BJP government in the State and at the Centre. The most used slogan by both the governments is “Atmanirbhar Bharat”, which means self-reliance or self-sufficient. We should practice what we preach.
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The government should do some out-of-the-box thinking and should initiate steps to have State’s own power generation plant to avoid dependence on the neighbouring States, especially at the time of issue-base disputes such as Mhadei River water dispute.
Modern technology provides compact natural gas turbine power generating plants, which are very efficient and can be accommodated on a foot print of about 1,000 sq mts of land, which can provide power generation of approximately 1,000 megawatts and above if required.
Given to understand a natural gas pipeline is already passing through Goa (through Zuari Nagar), it can be made use of as input source known to be less polluting and controllable to much below the level of permissible limits.
Ready land could be used where the extinct Salgaocar Reliance plant existed or surplus land from Zuari Agro Chemicals could also be contemplated. Any barren land along the coastal area will also serve the purpose.
This is a real alternative considering all benefits. This saves the existing environment, avoids deforestation (cutting of trees) which is required for proposed sub-station and long transmission lines.
A captive power generation plant will make the State a true “Aatmanirbhar” and insulate the consumers from “arbitrary power” hikes and power outages, like in the present scenario, which burdens the end-user/consumer.
Regenerative power can also be augmented by solar and wind power. A feasibility report and analyses by the government is very important and helpful at this stage, which should be transparent to all the concerned.
