Power Ministers’ Meet To Be Hosted By Visakhapatnam

A two-day conclave of Power Ministers from various states and Union Territories will be meeting in Visakhapatnam on April 27. The state government will be hosting the meet that is being held for the first time in the state.

At the conference, the Central Government’s schemes on power projects, energy conservation and the availability of coal will be discussed amongst other things. Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and other senior officials from the Ministry of Power and Power Departments from the states and Union Territories will be in attendance.

Power Minister Kala Venkata Rao confirmed that the conference will be held in Visakhapatnam.

The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh has also set high standards for the energy wing of Andhra Pradesh. He directed officials to not deviate from the none-point agenda put in place. Ahead of the upcoming meet, the CM reviewed the energy sector’s performance at his residence in Undavalli.

He stated that AP has become a role model for other states via its energy sector. But instead of being satisfied with the same, he said the officials should begin to yearn worldwide acclaim. He views the conference as a platform to now just showcase AP’s achievements but also to learn from other states by identifying their best practices.

He pointed out that the state is power-surplus and that transmission and distribution losses have been reduced to single digits. The move where electricity was brought to remote tribal areas, augmentation of renewable power generation and implementation of energy efficient techniques was worth recognition.

“Maintaining adequate power to meet demand under all circumstances, use of scientific load forecasting techniques and studying the exponentially growing demand due to industrial promotion apart from construction of the new capital city of Amaravati should be on top of the nine-point agenda,” said the CM.

The CM has further asked Kala Venkata Rao to focus on the completion of the planned 15,000 MW project where renewable energy will be generated with 10,000 MW from solar and 5000 MW from wind by 2019. “Officials should try to get more funds from the Centre under central-sponsored schemes,” the CM directed.