AP leading in development of ‘Solar Parks’ across the country

Focus will be on energy-efficient appliances for consumers, says APGENCO official

K. Vijayanand

The State government’s focus on promoting non-conventional sources of energy has catapulted Andhra Pradesh as a forerunner in development of solar parks’ across the country, maintained AP TRANSCO CMD and APGENCO MD K. Vijayanand.

Interacting with the media, ahead of APERC’s State Coordination Forum Meeting scheduled to be held on October 27, here on Wednesday, Mr. Vijayanand dwelt on the State government’s plans to promote non-conventional sources of energy such as solar and wind, alongside marching towards achieving 10 per cent of renewable energy capacity set by the Union government.

“We are leading in development of solar parks in the country, including the setting up the first facility in Anantapur district. The present installed capacity of solar parks is around 850 MW, and in the next four years, expected capacity addition is 5,000 MW. About 1,120 MW of installed capacity for wind power is expected to reach 5258 in the same duration,” he added.

Mr. Vijayanand said they could overcome the energy deficit in the State i.e., 10.6 per cent in June 2014 (22 million units per day) with continuous efforts from power utilities, transforming into a power surplus State with a capacity to extend 10 million units to others. “The power sector has made a lot of progress in terms of enhancement of installed capacity of generation and expansion of network. The State has also achieved a unique target of 100 per cent household electrification reaching more than 5.5 lakh households till June 2016. The process is being continued by the utilities and new applications are being received,” he asserted.

He underlined the efforts to offer quality and affordable power to the consumers as well as the power utilities owning up the responsibility of production and conservation. “With support from Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), we have been implementing various energy efficiency measures such as distribution of LED lights, agricultural pumpset replacement scheme etc., The next focus would be on distributing energy efficient fans, LED tubelights and much more,” he remarked.