Work on Goa Tamnar Transmission Project halted in Karnataka due to pending approvals Minister

Panaji, Jul 22 (PTI) Goa Power Minister Sudhin Dhavalikar on Monday said the work on Goa Tamnar Transmission Project Limited (GTTPL) has been stopped in Karnataka due to pending approvals from the forest department of the neighbouring state.
    The Goa Tamnar Transmission Project Limited (GTTPL) is an inter-state transmission system project envisaged to create an additional source of power for the state of Goa.
    Under the project, a 400-KV transmission line will be laid from Narendra village in Dharwad district (Karnataka) and terminate at a substation at Xeldem in Goa.
    Speaking in the legislative assembly, Dhavalikar said the work on the Narendra-Xeldem 400 KV line is halted in Karnataka due to pending forest and wildlife diversion approvals, and GTTPL has been following up with the forest, ecology and environment department of the neighbouring state.
    The same is under consideration since GTTPL has re-aligned the route in Karnataka as per the recommendations of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court and the Forest Department of Karnataka, he said.
    The minister was responding to a joint question from Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao, MLAs Altone D'Costa, Venzy Viegas, Cruz Silva, Vijai Sardesai and Carlos Ferreira.
    The Goa government was committed to protecting the environment, forest and wildlife, he said.
    "The transmission elements in Goa, i.e., Xeldem-Xeldem and Xeldem-Mapusa transmission line and the Dharbandora substation have all the required approvals, including forest approvals," Dhavalikar said.
    Presently, the available transfer capacity (ATC) of the interstate transmission lines from the western grid was 690 MW, and in the event of tripping of any 400/220 KV line or during scheduled maintenance shutdowns, the state has to enforce load shedding due to the ATC imposed by the grid authorities, he said.
    The minister further said the 220 KV Ambewadi Ponda-Xeldem line was unreliable, as there are frequent interruptions. Besides, only 100 MW power can be sourced through this line from the southern grid.
    He said as Goa cannot source power from other states/grids, the Tamnar project will help draw additional power to meet the increasing demand and improve the reliability of the interstate lines.
    GTTPL is executed by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) under tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB). Hence, the state isn't spending any money on the project.
    "However, the transmission cost has to be borne by the western region utilities when the actual power flows on the transmission lines," Dhavalikar said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)