Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has cited the agreements with Tesla Inc. and Iowa State University in the fields of renewable energy storage, the Internet and seed production and food technology as major breakthroughs achieved by him during his week-long tour of the U.S.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, promised to extend technological expertise for the establishment of two solar energy storage units of 4 MW capacity each in Rayalaseema in response to Mr. Naidu’s plea for cooperating in ushering in the next phase of reforms in the energy sector.
Another significant accomplishment was Google Inc.’s consent to bring all its technologies to Andhra Pradesh., including the offer to roll out its cutting-edge free space optical communication technology for A.P.’s fibre grid project, for which the California-based Internet giant has already come forward to provide 2000 nodes by the end of December 2017.
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Addressing mediapersons at the Interim Government Complex at Velagapudi on Saturday, Mr. Naidu said he promised to provide business to Tesla and help it in commercialising its innovations as part of the government’s endeavour to benefit the most out of such disruptive technologies.
With Tesla, the Government of Andhra Pradesh intended to set up regional smart grids by initially converting all agricultural pumpsets into solar energy-powered ones and eventually export any surplus power into the grid.
As far as Andhra Pradesh’s collaboration in the field of seed production and research and facility in seed science was concerned, Mr. Naidu said the MoU with Iowa State University for the establishment of a mega seed park in Kurnool district was a major achievement.
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Mr. Naidu said Apple CEO Jeff Williams raised some issues related to incentives and making of spare parts. These were being discussed with the Union government.
The Chief Minister said 28 MoUs were signed with several companies and universities during his visit to the U.S., including with companies run by non-resident Telugus. Franklin Templeton came forward to extend support in setting a fin-tech city at Visakhapatnam.