Agartala: Tripura government on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Thermal Power Corporation – Renewable Energy (NTPC-REL) in New Delhi to develop floating and ground-mounted based renewable energy projects in Tripura in pursuance of the mission of Tripura government in meeting its clean energy commitments and obligations as part of its climate change mitigation initiative.
Besides top officials of the state government, Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha and Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma holding the power portfolio were present at the MoU signing event followed by a discussion with the NTPC officials regarding revamping the power sector in the state.
“The MoU embarks on the journey towards the development of Renewable Energy Projects in Tripura and shall help us in meeting our Clean Energy Commitments to the vision of PM,” said Chief Minister Saha adding that Tripura has been embarking on a mission to popularize green energy while ensuring energy security of the people.
Deputy Chief Minister Dev Varma however, said that the empowered committee of Ministry of DoNER in a meeting last month recommended the Rs 80.79 Cr proposal of Tripura for setting up of microgrid, which will cover more than 500 villages in remote areas where access to a conventional source of power is not feasible.
Recently, a 2-Kilowatt microgrid solar power plant at Sarkipara in Nunacherra ADC village under Mungiakami block of Khowai district has illuminated as many as 14 families. The villagers have long been demanding the power supply but, erecting a power line to such a distance for less than 100 people was not feasible.
Tripura Renewable Energy Development Agency (TREDA) has taken up the initiative to ensure power supply to the non-electrified villages and the state government has approved the plan for the installation of microgrid solar power plants in 23 villages at the cost of Rs 2.30 Cr, Dev Varma stated.
As many as 12,000 solar lights were already distributed in various remote areas and a plan to distribute another 15,000 solar lights was also in the pipeline. In that case, the Aspirational Blocks would be given priority, he pointed out.
Now, the state government has been contemplating bringing resettlement villages of Brus under the Bio-village project where livelihood will be based on natural resources and power supply will be from renewable sources, Dev Varma added.
