The Government of India (GoI), the World Bank and the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) signed a $240 million loan agreement in New Delhi on Thursday for supporting the GoAP in supplying reliable, quality and affordable power 24X7 to its consumers.
The agreement was signed by Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of the GoI, K. Ranganatham, Advisor, Department of Energy on behalf of the GoAP, D. J. Pandian, Vice-President and Chief Investment Officer on behalf of the AIIB, and Hisham Abdo Kahin, Operations Manager and Acting Country Director, on behalf of the World Bank.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) also signed a $140 million loan agreement with the GoAP for the project, which is the first in India being co-financed by the bank. The World Bank and AIIB will provide loans in the 60:40 ratio.
According to an official release, the energy demand in A.P. is expected to grow to 78,900 GWh (Gigawatt-hour) by FY 2019 from 56,313 GWh in FY 2015, which implies an annual energy requirement of more than 8.50 %.
Smart grids in
select towns
The project will help bring in modern technology solutions such as automated substations and network analysis and planning tools to provide reliable power supply and enhance customer satisfaction.
While a significant portion of the proposed investments is aimed at improving power supply to rural areas, the project will duly focus on demonstrating the deployment of smart grids in select towns.
Some of the major components of the project include strengthening of the intra-State transmission and distribution network to despatch power to the load centres in the State.
The project will also support smart meters, with two-way communication and back end IT infrastructure deployed in select urban towns. These meters will not only reduce technical and commercial losses but also improve peak load management.
The meters are expected to provide consumers with better access to data which will encourage them to reduce their electricity consumption.
