AP seeks 25% hike in natural gas supply on top priority

The Andhra Pradesh government has urged the Centre to allocate 3.2 mmscmd (million metric standard cubic metre per day) of natural gas on top priority for gas-based projects to meet the ever-growing power demand in the state.

The request was made by energy department principal secretary, Dinesh Kumar, while addressing a conference of southern states on implementation of priority power projects and other power-related key issues here on Sunday.

Kumar urged the power ministry to expedite the matter with the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) and the ministry of petroleum and natural gas to meet the shortage and facilitate power generation at all the gas-based projects to their full capacity.

“Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy is very keen that the gap between demand and supply of power be bridged to the maximum extent and the allocation of 3.2 mmscmd of natural gas is very crucial to the state,” he said.

Reiterating that there were nine gas-based projects in the state with an installed capacity of 2,770 Mw, he said natural gas required for these projects was 13 mmscmd. However, the gas supply, at present, is only around 9.7 mmscmd resulting in a shortfall of 3.2 mmscmd, which the state wanted the Centre to release on a priority basis

“The chief minister had already addressed a letter to the Centre in this connection. He requested the Centre for allocation of another 9.72 mmscmd of natural gas for the 2,100-Mw APGenco project at Karimnagar,” Kumar said.

He said the Centre should restore 238 Mw of power earlier reduced last year from the Central Generating Stations (CGS) share and also allocate an additional 500 Mw from the unallocated power of CGS to meet the demand in peak hours to the extent of 8-10 per cent in the state.

In a record achievement, the state power utilities achieved a peak power demand of 11,289 Mw and a peak energy supply of 265 million units/per day during March this year, he added.