VIJAYAWADA: The Energy department has sought financial and technological support from the French government agency AFD (Agence Française de Développement) as part of an endeavour to achieve reliable and low-cost electricity generation and supply, which is essential for economic activity and attracting productive investment to the State.
A high-level delegation led by AFD Country Director Bruno Bosle met senior officials of the energy department and held discussions on possibilities of investing in the power sector. Officials said producing low-cost power was the highest priority for the government and that it invites every initiative that encourages cost-effective power production.
The officials sought the role of AFD in providing technical assistance to scale up operations of the current research and training institute for power systems, where electrical engineers and officials will be training in the latest technologies and capacity building. They also discussed with the AFD on funding to energy efficiency projects in upcoming industrial townships across the State. The government plans to develop 10 such industrial townships and an energy-efficient power system in Visakhapatnam industrial park.
However, the AFD delegates indicated that they would give more priority for projects that contributes to mitigate climate change and have the potential to generate long term positive impact on the quality of life and environment. It was suggested that a proposal could be developed for renewable energy and energy efficiency related projects.
Energy secretary Srikant Nagulapalli said that high electricity costs and interruptions in power supply act as a disincentive to investment, hamper competitiveness and complicate efforts aimed at poverty reduction. In view of this, the government prefers only low-cost power to improve the overall financial performance of the power sector.
In fact, the purchase of renewable power at high prices caused a huge financial burden on the discoms and government as well. The Discoms incurred a loss of `29,000 crore by December 2019. The discoms are taking loans from financial institutions like IREDA and APPFC to pay dues to renewable generators. The utilities paid `1,890.86 crore to the developers in the last few months.
In view of this, the government is determined to achieve cheapest power, that is an essential input for economic activity and to attract productive investment to the State and solve the financial distress of power utilities.
As part of this, the government is contemplating to establish a 10,000 MW solar power project for supply power to agriculture. The government has already identified land of 50,000 acres in Kadapa, Kurnool, Ananthapuram and Prakasam for the project.
“AP would be the first State in the country that has chosen renewable energy as the ideal source to exclusively supply electricity for agriculture sector. The government wants the power generation should be eco- friendly and cost-effective,” the officials explained.
They said the government has already achieved some progress by saving around `500 crore in power purchases. The State government also intends to introduce cutting edge technologies across the power generation, transmission and distribution.