Union Minister for Power Piyush Goyal has agreed to the request of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to support the Rs.7,500-crore scheme of replacing 15 lakh agricultural pump sets free of cost with five-star rated, energy efficient pump sets in the State.
A press release issued by the CEO, State Energy Conservation Mission (SECM) A. Chandra Sekhara Reddy, said that in a bid to boost welfare of the farming community, the Government is contemplating to replace inefficient pump sets, each worth Rs.50,000, free-of-cost, as part of the new initiatives in energy efficiency activities in 2016.
Directing the SECM to implement the scheme in a phased manner as a New Year gift, the Chief Minister insisted that the cost of the pump sets was not the criteria.
Secretary Energy, I & I, Ajay Jain during a meeting briefed Mr. Naidu about the ongoing Rajanagaram pilot project wherein 2,500 existing pump sets would be replaced with energy efficiency pump sets.
So far 150 pump sets had been replaced and the performance results were encouraging. It said farmers were expressing satisfaction over the increased discharge of water to the extent of 15 per cent and pump sets were yielding about 30 per cent energy efficiency gain.
Following Mr. Naidu’s request, Mr. Goyal directed MD, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) Saurabh Kumar to work out modalities for rolling out the scheme throughout the State. When rolled out the scheme was expected to yield annual energy savings of around 3,000 MU, Mr. Jain informed the Chief Minister.
