Telangana to Invest Rs. 45K Cr in Power Sector.

The state government has 'powerful' plans to implement 24X7 power supply to rural and urban consumers in the state from 2018-19.

For this, the state is planning to invest more than Rs 45,000 crore in the next five years for capacity additions besides improving transmission network.

The estimated per capita power consumption in the state in 2014-15 is 1,366 units. Estimating that this would increase considerably in the next few years, the state government has several plans to meet the ever increasing power demand. This includes nine-hour free power supply to agriculture consumers.

TSGenco, the state-owned generating company has plans to add 6,800 MW of power in the next five years through its upcoming generating stations of Kothagudem (800 MW), Manuguru (1,080 MW), Damercherla Thermal Power Stations (4,800 MW).

Coal requirement is expected to reach 46.5 MTPA by 2019-20 as against the existing coal linkage of 10.67 MTPA. In case of shortfall of coal linkages provided by the Coal India Limited (CIL), CIL needs to partner with state governments in meeting this shortfall through import of coal, energy minister Jagadish Reddy told the Centre.

The state government has significant capacity additions planned in the coming years in solar and wind power. It has plans to add 2,965 MW of solar power through competitive bidding processes and 2,600 MW through solar parks along with over 800 MW of wind power during the next five years.

In the transmission sector, the state government is planning an investment of over Rs 19,000 crore in the next five years under various evacuation and system strengthening schemes. Besides, the Discoms are committed to reduction of transmission and distribution losses from the current 16.1 per cent to less than 13 per cent in 2018-19.

Also, separate studies are under progress to assess the readiness of the distribution and transmission network for supply of nine-hours day time power to agricultural consumers. It is estimated that around Rs 2,000 crore will be required for separation of agricultural feeders, sources said.

The state distribution companies have planned investment of around Rs. 26,000 crore for the period 2014-15 to 2018-19.

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS