The Energy Department has made a forceful plea to the Central government to assist the State in overcoming its current power shortages by enhancing allocation from the Central Generating Stations as also increasing coal allocation to the thermal power plants to ensure optimal power generation.
Led by Energy Secretary Ajay Jain, the power utilities gave a detailed presentation on the ongoing power shortages, estimated to the tune of 500 MW, to the high powered committee headed by Ministry of Power Joint Secretary Jyoti Arora on Friday. The team was here to interact with the Energy officials about the scope for implementation of the power for all project conceived by the Central government for which AP along with Rajasthan had been declared as nodal States.
The officials explained the shortcomings in the AP Reorganisation Act like calculation of power sharing on the basis of consumption, not population, which adversely impacted the State’s energy scenario. According to sources, senior officials expressed concern over the shortage of coal that was not only hitting the State’s thermal projects, but also impacted the power plants operated by the NTPC.
The officials wanted the Central government’s support to bridge the current gap in the demand and supply by allocating additional power from the CGS. Ms. Arora who was here to ascertain the situation in the successor State by taking feedback from the power officials assured that the delegation would submit its recommendations to the Centre in a fortnight.
The delegation also called on Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Mr. Naidu explained the delegation about his commitment to provide 24X7 supply to consumers. Accordingly, steps had been launched to enhance generation capacity and strengthening the transmission & distribution networks to avoid losses. He instructed Mr. Ajay Jain to coordinate with the Ministry of Power in securing required allocations as well as monitoring the progress of the Power For All scheme.
The power utilities on their part resolved to prepare a blue print for improving the existing network along with new infrastructure that would be needed for connecting the hitherto unconnected households. The blue print would contain details of power requirement over the next three to five years, long term transmission requirements including inter-State and intra-State networks, steps for renovation of the existing power plants and identification of circles with lowest losses for implementation of the 24X7 scheme.
