HYDERABAD:In a significant development, which might enable rapid infrastructure growth in power sector in Andhra Pradesh, the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), a public sector company, has agreed to provide a loan assistance of Rs 9,000 crore to APGenco for setting up of power projects in the State.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between APGenco and REC in the presence of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in New Delhi on Wednesday. APTrancso Chairman and Managing Director K Vijayanand, who is also the Managing Director of APGenco, signed the MoU on behalf of AP power utilities.
Out of loan, Rs 3,000 crore would be used for setting up of 500 MW solar power projects in Anantapur district and the remaining Rs 6,000 crore would be used for transmission and distribution network in AP like under-ground cabling, gas insulated sub-stations, transmission and sub-transmission system improvement.
Earlier, REC had granted Rs 9,204 cr to APGenco, Rs 10,300 cr to APTransco and Rs 8,550 cr to APDiscoms.
“AP power sector is being recognised by the Centre as the trend setter in implementing the Power For All (PFA) & Energy Conservation & Energy Efficiency (EC&EE) programmes,” he said. Stating that AP is one of the three States identified by the Centre for implementation of “24 X 7, Power For All” programme, Vijayanand said AP has been initiating steps to achieve 100 pc electrification of all villages, towns and cities by March next year.
“AP’s transmission loss of 3.37 per cent as against the national average of 4.7 per cent is one of the lowest in the country,” he said.
More, Better Power
Rs 3,000 cr to be used for setting up of solar power projects in Anantapur district
Rs 6,000 cr will be spent on transmission and distribution network
REC’s Past Loans
Rs 9,204 cr to APGENCO
Rs 10,300 cr to APTRANSCO
Rs 8,550 cr to APDISCOMS