North East India is very rich in resources for energy sector. You may be aware that this region is the Gongotri of oil and natural gas. More than 100 years back, oil was struck in the deep jungle of Digboi in Upper Assam. Crude oil and natural gas is still produced in sizeable amount from the oil fields of Assam and other states of NE India. Similarly, coal was also discovered even before oil and gas. NE India has a significant reserve of low ash high sulfur tertiary coal that is very suitable for direct liquefaction. North East India is also endowed with a large network of rivers that carries huge volume of water throughout the year from the hills to the mighty river Brahmaputra. This throws up huge potential for power generation from appropriate hydel projects. The fertile land, abundant rainfall, moderate temperature etc. makes this area very suitable for energy plantation. Also, the presence of large number of algal varieties including those in wet lands offer immense potential for production of bio-fuel from algae. Similarly, the production of large amount of bio-mass from the forests and agricultural products offers the scope of decentralized biomass gasification. The energy resource portfolio is further supplemented by the discovery of uranium in the state of Meghalaya and this raises the potential of generation of nuclear power in NE India.
