Visakhapatnam, June 06, 2021: Andhra Pradesh topped the country in the ‘affordable and clean energy’ category of the Niti Aayog’s index for sustainable development goals (SDGs). The state has improved its points from 86 in 2019 to 100 points in 2020.
According to state officials, the utilities have started purchasing power in spot markets and saved about Rs 2,350 crore in the last two years. The power utilities procured 3,393 million units in 2019-20 and 8,890 MU in 2020-21 from the open market at cheap prices.
The average cost of procurement, including transmission charges, was limited to Rs 3.12 per unit against the approved weighted average procurement cost of Rs 4.55/unit.
State energy secretary Srikant Nagulapalli said that Andhra Pradesh is far ahead of other states in terms of supplying quality and affordable power. “While some states are struggling to provide uninterrupted power, Andhra Pradesh stood first in the country in achieving cost-effective power at the national level,” said Srikant.
The state government had earlier announced ‘renewable export policy’ for large scale promotion of renewable energy projects for export of power outside the state without any obligation to discoms. The policy is expected to attract investments for establishing wind, solar and wind-solar hybrid projects on a massive scale in the state according to the reports published in timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
The state has also planned pumped hydro storage (PSP) projects with a capacity of 33,240 MW both on the river and off-river sites. These projects will help convert variable renewable energy sources into round-the-clock power.
When the energy secretary briefed the energy minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy about the NITI Aayog report, the minister said that the significant progress in the sector in the last two years has become possible only with the strong support and guidance of chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
