New Delhi: Two of the six hydroelectric projects under construction in the North Eastern Region — the 1,000 MW Subansiri Lower and Assam's 120 MW Lower Kopili — are near completion at over 97 percent physical progress, while three others remain below 10 percent, data the Ministry of Power placed in the Rajya Sabha on Monday shows.
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The six projects, with a combined installed capacity of 2,166 MW, are all scheduled to be commissioned on or before December 31, 2030, according to the written reply by Minister of State for Power Shripad Naik, which gave physical progress as on June 30 this year.
The reply showed the projects clustered at the two ends of the progress scale. Alongside Subansiri Lower (97.84 percent) and Lower Kopili (98.65 percent), Sikkim's 120 MW Rangit-IV was at 97.34 percent and the 500 MW Teesta Stage VI at 73.48 percent. At the other end, three projects had barely begun: the 240 MW HEO and 186 MW Tato-I, both in Arunachal Pradesh, stood at 6.33 percent and 5.10 percent respectively, leaving a large share of capacity to be built in the roughly four and a half years to the December 2030 deadline.
By capacity, the projects span three states. Arunachal Pradesh accounts for the largest share at 1,426 MW across three projects — Subansiri Lower (which straddles the Arunachal-Assam border, in Lower Subansiri and Dhemaji districts), HEO and Tato-I. Sikkim has two, Teesta Stage VI and Rangit-IV, totalling 620 MW. Assam has one, Lower Kopili in Dima Hasao and Karbi Anglong districts, at 120 MW.
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The projects are being built by three state-owned agencies, the reply said. NHPC is executing Subansiri Lower, Teesta Stage VI and Rangit-IV; NEEPCO is building HEO and Tato-I; and Assam Power Generation Corporation (APGCL) is executing Lower Kopili. The two projects furthest from completion, HEO and Tato-I, are both NEEPCO projects.
The projects are coming up as electricity demand in the region climbs. For Assam, the same reply projected peak demand rising to 3,403 MW by FY2029-30 from an estimated 2,914 MW in FY2026-27, and energy requirement to 18,162 million units from 14,978 million units over the same period, based on the midterm review of the 20th Electric Power Survey. In the current year up to June 2026, Assam met 2,658 MW of a 2,683 MW peak, the reply said, a shortfall of about 25 MW.
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