VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the frontrunner at the national level for its energy efficiency initiatives as per the State Energy Efficiency Preparedness Index released by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) of the Ministry of Power and NITI Aayog.
The index which identified the best performing States AP, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan in the country, has made a special mention about Andhra Pradesh for doing well in adopting energy efficiency (EE) measures, particularly in municipalities, agriculture and other sectors.
In a teleconference held on Sunday, the Energy Department officials informed Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu that the BEE and NITI Aayog released the index for the first time last week. They explained to the Chief Minister that the BEE and NITI Aayog evaluated 63 indicators, including State regulations, adoption of energy efficiency initiatives, energy savings and other key parameters. “Andhra Pradesh, as a frontrunner, has several programmes in place for promoting energy efficiency in municipalities, DISCOMs, industries and buildings through Perform Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme. However, the State could improve programmes for energy efficiency in the transport sector,” the index said.
Principal Secretary (Energy) Ajay Jain informed the Chief Minister that the report also observed that while most States limited themselves to one or more programmes driven by BEE, AP and other frontrunner States have been implementing their own initiatives too.
Speaking on the occasion, Naidu emphasised the need to focus on maintaining the sustainability of energy efficiency measures. “We have to research, examine and adopt the advanced technologies coming up worldwide on the energy efficiency front. The new technologies in advanced countries like Japan have to be taken into consideration for adopting them in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector, which helps in employment generation and economic development,” he suggested.
Energy Minister K Kala Venkata Rao told the Chief Minister that the department has won 84 international and national awards so far for its energy efficiency measures.