AGARTALA, September 7 (TIWN): Due to lack of gas the second unit of Palatana was unable to generate power, informed an official of OTPC. The second unit which created some technical fault on 12 -14 days after a special ring broke, however it was replaced on Saturday. On Wednesday, engineers of BHEL brought the ring Hyderabad, but due to non – availability gas have stopped generating power from the second unit. The first unit of Palatana is functioning normally, it is likely ONGC will be able to supply gas from Monday next onwards for the second unit.

It is  mentionable here that the  commissioning of state-run North Eastern Electric Power Corporation's plant at Monarchak has also  been delayed on account of non-supply of gas by ONGC, resulting in a loss of Rs.5 crore a month

Conceived in 2000 with an installed capacity of 500 Mw, the Monarchak power plant's generation capacity was reduced to 280 MW in 2003-04 after ONGC reduced its gas allocation by half..

The ONGC further cut the gas allocation in 2008 forcing NEEPCO to scale down the installed capacity of the project to 101 MW.

Designed by the US-based General Electric Company, the turbines are being supplied by Bharat Heavy Electric Limited for the plant which would generate 62 Mw electricity through gas turbine and 39 Mw through steam turbine.

Headquartered in Meghalaya capital Shillong, NEEPCO is also planning to generate at least 1,500 Mw from solar and wind energy in the next 5 years.