By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
The 132nd Board Meeting of the state-run UJVN Limited on Monday decided to set up a technical expert group to expedite the construction of new hydropower projects in the hill state.
The meeting which was held at the Secretariat in Dehradun under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan who is also Chairman, UJVN Limited stated that this group will also provide suggestions related to the technical feasibility, design, and implementation of the new projects. UJVN is having an installed capacity of 1440 Mw in the state.
The expert technical group will work on the proposed 114 MW Sela-Urthing hydroelectric project in the border district of Pithoragarh, as well as the 102 MW Mori-Tyuni hydroelectric project in Uttarkashi district.
In the meeting, the proposal for the revised cost and administrative approval of the works related to minimizing water flow downstream of the Joshiyara Barrage of Maneri Bhali Stage II was also passed.
The meeting also agreed to the proposal for availing consultancy services for the Mori-Tyuni project. The proposal for the updated cost and revised administrative approval for the electro-mechanical works of the 300 MW Lakhwar project was also approved in the meeting.
The proposal for the detailed project report and investment plan for the rehabilitation of the 3 MW Urgam Small Hydroelectric Project located in Chamoli district was also approved.
The proposal to invite tenders for the installation of electro-mechanical equipment in the 72 MW Tyuni-Plasu project was also approved. Financial approval was granted for the civil design and engineering of the 12 MW Tankul project on the Shyamkholagad river in Pithoragarh district.
The Board of Directors also granted permission to file a review petition on the provisions related to battery-based energy storage tariff and trading margin in the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission’s 2025 regulations. The Board of Directors also approved the proposal to file a review petition with the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) regarding the issue of not receiving an extension for the commercial operation date of solar projects. Details of power generation for the financial year 2025-26 were also presented to the Board, according to which the corporation’s power plants are currently 84 million units ahead of their target.
Besides the Chief Secretary, the meeting was attended by Principal Secretary Energy Dr. R. Meenakshi Sundaram, Secretary Finance Dilip Jawalkar, Indu Kumar Pande, B.P. Pandey, Parag Gupta, Managing Director of UJVN Limited Dr. Sandeep Singhal, Director Projects Suresh Chandra Baluni, Director Operations A.K. Singh, Executive Directors Sudhakar Badoni, Ashish Jain, Vivek Atreya, and others.