The Telangana government is planning to set up a hydro power generation plant in Himachal Pradesh, a State that has enormous potential in this sector. The government wants to invest in it to get cheaper power and meet the ever-increasing demand.
Sources said that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had discussed the proposal with Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in New Delhi recently. The government may partner with some private companies to reduce the investment burden, and the power produced there will be exclusively supplied to Telangana.
The government also planned to prepare a new policy on electricity generation and procurement, whose draft copy is being readied. It plans to introduce the same in the next Assembly session and before that seek suggestions from experts and various organisations.
Sources said that the policy will be aimed at meeting the electricity requirements for the next seven years (up to 2032) as power companies estimate that the peak demand will be 27,059 MW by that year from the present peak load demand of 15,623 MW.
Less burden on consumers
However, the envisaged power policy will not put too much burden on consumers. The government is expected to invite and enter into agreements with private companies that show interest to produce and supply large amounts of renewable electricity.
The Congress government feels that BRS’ policies on electricity, which include buying power at high rates due to faulty agreements, have played havoc with the system.
Officials privy to the policy say that NTPC’s 4,000 MW, which was supposed to be for Telangana as per the Redistribution Act, has not been fully made available even after 10 years. This created burden on the Discoms. Only 1,600 MW plant has been made available so far, and it will take another five years to complete the second phase of the 2,400 MW plant, which was started recently.
At present, NTPC electricity rate is ₹5.90 per unit that will go up to ₹8-₹9 once it is completed. The Yadadri Thermal Power Plant (YTPP) is still not completed. The estimated investment cost of ₹6 crore per unit of production has already touched ₹10 crore.
In this scenario, the government is planning to back off from the second phase of NTPC power contract as power is available at a lower rate than in the open market. Renewable electricity generation is available for less than ₹2-₹4 per unit and the government wants to focus on this.
Solar power
New plans are being prepared to promote solar power, wind power, pumped storage power and battery storage power. The government has chosen to promote solar power on a large scale and expects that the entire electricity needs of the State from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. should be met through solar power.
The new policy will give top priority to setting up solar plants in all 33/11 KV sub-stations. It is meant to set up solar plants under the auspices of women’s self-help groups at available government sites. It plans to explore the possibilities of installing solar units in government schools, colleges, universities, hostels and government office buildings.
