No hike in power tariff: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu

Amaravati: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has once again clarified that his government would not enhance electricity charges even though the Discoms incurred losses. In a review meeting with the officials of energy department here on Wednesday, he asked them to focus reducing expenditure to overcome losses.

“People come first. We must overcome all difficulties and prevent any hike in the power tariff,” he stated. Meanwhile the officials reported that in April – August 2017, the energy sector has witnessed an overall growth of 7.3 per cent. Wind and solar energy have contributed the most to the sector with 17 per cent and 5 per cent of the total energy produced, respectively. Their growth has been phenomenal at 154 per cent and 183 per cent respectively.

Highlights:

• Directs officials to set up 400 MW solar plants near 33/11 KV sub-stations
• Energy sector sees a growth of 7.3 per cent

Now in the state, wind energy has a capacity of 3,765 MW and solar energy has a capacity of 1,994 MW. One of the key steps taken by the state government is the commissioning of the world’s largest solar park of a capacity of 1,000 MW.

Naidu instructed the officials to set up solar plants across the state with a total capacity of 400 MW in the range of 33/11 kV power sub stations. While the solar panels will supply electricity in the daytime, the surplus will be connected to the grid, will be stored or sold.

“Agriculture must be supported by energy-efficient solutions across Andhra Pradesh. All the 16 lakh pump sets must be replaced with solar and energy saving pump sets”, he said.

While the revenue of Discoms this year has been Rs 25,290 crore, the expenditure has been Rs 27,621 crore. Officials said that there are number of reasons for this loss, including limited hydel power generation and increase in variable cost of CGS stations.

The projected growth in the next 2 years is 9.02 per cent in the energy sector. The projections for the next 10 years included the retirement of old power plants (RTPP, VTPS I, II, III) and capacity additions through incremental solar power additions and storage of solar energy.

The Chief Minister told the department that outsourcing man power must stop, and sub-stations and other power-infrastructure should be planned based on demand and supply. He directed them to work on more energy saving options, and invest in increasing storage capacity of solar energy with better technology. Several higher officials of the energy department were present in the meeting.