VIJAYAWADA: Energy secretary N Srikant has said the State government is developing a road map for generating and procuring low-cost power and implementing energy conservation and energy efficiency measures. In his inaugural address at the two-day national workshop on energy conservation building code for residential buildings organised by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, in coordination with Indo-Swiss BEEP and Andhra Pradesh State Energy Conservation Mission, here on Thursday, Srikant said as the power sector was the prime mover of the economy, the State government was committed to bringing about transformative change in the sector.
He said the objective was to ensure a reliable 24x7 quality power supply in a cost-effective manner to all consumers and implement energy-efficient measures, which gives multiple benefits, including environmental, energy and economic savings and ultimately helps achieve sustainability in power sector.
According to him, the demand for electricity in the State is increasing day by day and it is expected to reach 190 MU by September from the present 183 MU.
“We are ready to meet the increasing demand and at the same time encourage judicious use of electricity,” he said and added power will be procured in a cost-effective manner from all sources. Stating that the State has surplus energy until 2023-24 and can comfortably meet the energy demand, avoid energy shortage, Srikant said the major challenge the Discoms facing was surplus high cost energy purchases. “In this context, the energy savings and energy efficiency efforts will help them reduce their losses,” he said.
Awareness about energy efficiency is another major challenge. Explaining the measures taken by AP State Energy Efficiency Development Corporation (APSEEDCO) in domestic, municipal, agriculture and other sectors, he said the commercial buildings alone in AP have a demand of 3,000 MU. If the ECBC is adopted in these commercial buildings, the State is expected to save around 900 MU with monetary savings of `450 crore as per the estimates of Administrative Staff College of India(ASCI). He said that if new technologies in construction are not adopted, emissions could double by 2050.