Team Herald
PANJIM: Goa Tamnar Transmission Power Limited (GTTPL) project head Ninad Pitale on Wednesday said that the company is only building power infrastructure in the State which will make Goa sufficient in terms of power requirement for next 20 years.
Referring to controversies and apprehensions in the minds of people that the project would cause environmental destruction at Mollem, Pitale said, “The aim of this project is to create infrastructure for Goa government and after it is connected to both the National Grids, it is up to the Goa Electricity Department from which power plant they want to procure the power. It will be Goa’s call and they can buy power from anywhere across India unlike now relying on Western Grid and Southern Grid.”
Pitale said right now Goa is buying about 100 mw of power from the Southern Grid and after completion of GTTPL project they may buy much more power from Karnataka.
“This project will provide an additional 400 KV feed to Goa from the Southern Grid which is important to improve Goa’s power situation and bring reliability and redundancy. Once operational, the project will enable 1200+ MW of power exchange between Goa and Southern Grid. With this, Goa can look forward to uninterrupted power supply even during the peak tourist season. This will also help in minimizing the use of DG sets and significantly improve the air quality index of the State,” he said.
Pitale said, “The GTTPL is setting up 400/220 KV sub-station at Sangod, Mollem and once operational, the project will form a complete ring viz Mapusa, Kolhapur, Narendra, Sangod and Mapusa ensuring reliable power for both North and South Goa districts.”
He claimed that the project does not pass through the Mollem National Park and that it involves a minimal unavoidable passage of 2.51-km through Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary. “Only six towers out of total 41 towers will be constructed in this area. The company voluntarily conducted Biodiversity Impact Assessment and Management Plan (BIA/BMP) report and will initiate all measures to mitigate impact on nature and wildlife and during construction in the forest area”, Pitale said.
To a question, Pitale said that so far 2670 tress were cut for the Sangod sub-station after obtaining necessary permissions and 9367 trees were planted at various locations. Also approximately 14,000 trees would be felled for the entire project.
The GTTPL project is an Inter-State Transmission System project envisaged by the Ministry of Power in 2015. It was envisioned to create an additional source of power for Goa to address the State’s growing power demands and make it self-sufficient in terms of energy requirement, he said.
