AP to invest 30K crore on T&D networks

Hyderabad: In order to meet the energy requirements and peak demand in Andhra Pradesh, state power utilities have decided to expedite the ongoing projects by investing around Rs 30,000 crore and strengthen the transmission and distribution network in the next four years.

"Apart from this, APGENCO is contemplating to enhance additional generation capacity of 3,850 MW by making investments of Rs 17,340 crore in the same period," according to the State Energy Conservation Mission (SECM). "The utilities would not hesitate to blacklist the erring power contractors if there are any deviations in execution of projects," SECM quoted K Vijayanand, MD of APGENCO and CMD of APTRANSCO, as saying in a statement.

The power demand in the state is likely to increase substantially with investments and capital region development going forward and Vijayanand has instructed the officials to expedite the projects keeping this in mind. The Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO) has drawn an action plan to increase AP's installed capacity from the existing 11,037 MW to 29,800 MW by March 2019, he said.

This will be done with an "ideal" generation mix of coal, hydel, solar, wind and other renewable energy sources to achieve "most cost-efficient power with self reliability". State government's Energy Advisor K Rangantham said a special report is being prepared on the impact of various state and central government schemes such as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana on providing quality, reliable & affordable 24x7 power supply to the consumers. The utilities have proposed to the government to install 400 KV sub-stations in each district to improve the voltage profile in certain areas and also deliver quality power to consumers.