Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has asked the officials to draw plans to procure coal indigenously in view of spiralling prices in the international market.
At a review meeting on the energy sector on Wednesday, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy suggested the officials to maintain enough stocks by procuring supplies from indigenous coal blocks such as Mahanadi in Odisha and Suliyari at Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh.
Directing the officials to work on special plans to supply coal to the thermal power stations continuously, he stressed the need for maintaining enough coal reserves in the State to avoid power cut next summer.
The officials told the Chief Minister hat they had received proposals from industrialists offering investments worth ₹95,000 crore to establish hydrogen-based power units, hydrogen e-methanol, green ammonia and offshore wind power units at Pudimadaka in Visakhapatnam district and also near the Kakinada port. Most of these proposals had come from companies such as ReNew Power and NTPC, they said.
Farm meters
The officials also told him that 16,63,705 farmers had so far come forward to fix meters for agricultural pump sets, the Chief Minister instructed them to ensure supply of quality power to the pump sets through a transparent system for the benefit of the farmers.
The farmers should be educated that the use of meters would help assess their energy requirements, and in turn help the officials prevent the burning of transformers and pump sets, he said.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that money for the consumed power would be directly deposited in the accounts of farmers to enable them to pay to the distribution companies.
“This will ensure accountability on the part of the distribution companies who will be bound to supply power without interruption,” he said.
The Chief minister also asked the Energy Department to release details of a pilot project implemented in Srikakulam district that resulted in power saving and benefited farmers immensely.
Green energy
Referring to the pump storage projects, he said the government would pay ₹30,000 per acre every year to those who parted with their lands for the green energy sector. The compensation would increase by 5% every two years, he said.
The officials said that the 800 MW power unit at Krishnapatnam was ready for inauguration while another 800 MW unit at the Vijayawada Thermal Power Station would be ready by March next.
They also explained the progress of works at the Polavaram project power unit and preparation for calling tenders for the 1,350 MW power unit at Upper Sileru.
Energy Minister P. Ramachandra Reddy, Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Special Chief Secretary (Energy) K. Vijayanand, Special Chief Secretary (Finance) S.S. Rawat, and AP-Genco Managing Director B. Sridhar were among others present.
