World Resources Institute India launches EAE digital platform for Nagaland

KOHIMA— The World Resources Institute (WRI) India on Friday launched the Energy Access Explorer (EAE) digital platform for Nagaland and handed over the ‘letter of intent’ to the Investment and Development Authority of Nagaland (IDAN).

Chairman of IDAN and advisor to the chief minister, Abu Metha, who officially launched the digital platform, said that energy is the backbone of progress and development.

Lauding the WRI’s quest to achieve sustainable energy, he said that Nagaland looks forward to the partnership for expertise and knowledge.

Commissioner and Secretary of Industries and Commerce, Kekhrievor Kevichusa, said that most of the development plans are hampered by problems like logistics, security and the lack of energy. The department is faced with the challenge of providing electricity to entrepreneurs in the state and a lot of infrastructure has failed due to the lack of it, he added.

While sharing that the department has started exploring augmenting solar energy, Kevichusa said there is a need for aggregating one’s effort to where resources are readily available.

Development Commissioner, Planning and Transformation, R Ramakrishnan, said the SDG Nagaland Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Vision 2030 Goal-7 aims at achieving ‘Affordable and Clean Energy’. He added the government wants to promote unconventional resources and is trying to bring clean energy resources to the state.

Healthcare centres need power supply

Director of Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Chiekroshuyi Tetseo, stressed on the need for mapping energy requirements for the hospitals and health centres, saying that all health centres in the state have equipment like refrigerators for storing essential medicines and vaccines, which require a 24X7 power supply.

In the district hospitals, equipment like ventilators, cardiac monitors, oxygen plants etc., require regular power supply, not only for running but also for charging batteries. Most of the equipment is sensitive and prone to damage if the quality of the power supply is not good, he said.

Maintaining that health facilities cannot rely completely on electricity to run its equipment, he lauded the WRI for mapping the potential of solar and wind energy for all health centres in the state.

The director informed that solar panels have been installed in district hospitals and some CHCs through NHP (World Bank) but yet to cover the PHCs, HWCs, and sub-centres.

It is going to be a huge investment, Tetseo said while requesting IDAN to identify some potential investors for renewable sources of energy for the health sector.

Akansha Saklani, Manager, Energy Programme, WRI India, said that the EAE platform can be layered with different data sets to help visualise the state of play of each sector. EAE is a geospatial platform that provides data on electricity, health, education and livelihood indicators in the regions that it serves, to aid policymakers, entrepreneurs and governments, decide the least cost and most sustainable energy access solutions for unserved and underserved communities to accelerate development.

Beyond providing energy access-related solutions, EAE can aid in decarbonising the health and education sectors by deploying Decentralised Renewable Energy (DRE) systems, she added.

Energy projects in Nagaland

Updating the ongoing projects in the state, Joint Director of New Renewable Energy department, Inaho P Awomi, informed that three hydro power projects including 42 MW at Lower Tizu HEP, 24 MW at Zungki HEP, and 24 MW at Tizu valley with a total capacity of 90 MW are in the initial stage.

The 5 MW Solar PP (Phase-I) (state-owned project) at Hovukhu village under Niuland district is expected to be commissioned next month, while the Phase-II with same power generating capacity has been approved in principle, for which work is expected to start by October this year, he informed.

The official said that the department is planning to complete the proposed renewable energy projects in the state within a specific time frame to meet the growing power demand and achieve the target of 50% energy requirement from non-fossil sources by 2030.

Informing that the present peak power demand of the state is about 180 MW, Awomi said power requirement is expected to reach 350 to 400 MW by 2025.

The state has to depend mostly on the central sector allocation of about 140 MW and the rest from the energy market which is cost inefficient. The renewable energy solution can step in to provide the required electricity, he said.

He said that the hydro power potential in the state is about 182 MW, as per an assessment made by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The state-owned Installed capacity of the small hydro project is 27.64 MW. Solar power potential is estimated at about 7290 MW, out of which cumulative installed capacity, compromising both on-grid and off-grid in the state, is about 4 MW.

The estimated potential of wind energy is about 30 MW at 50 m above GL as per the assessment of National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE). As a pilot project, two wind-solar hybrids of 20 KW have been installed and nine potential sites have been identified, he informed.

As for biogas, 3220 units of biogas have been installed across the state. A 10 MW biomass power plant has been proposed by a private developer at Tuli in Mokokchung district, Awomi added.