AP to add 4,500 Mw in next five years

The Andhra Pradesh government is planning to achieve an additional generation of 4,500 Mw in the next five years under public sector – APGenco – and is making efforts to procure 70 million tonne coal, as against the present supply of 50 million tonne, from Singareni Collieries Limited to reduce the coal shortages for power plants in the state.

Disclosing this at an interactive session on ‘Current scenario in energy sector –- The way forward' organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Saturday, principal secretary (energy department), Dinesh Kumar said that the installed capacity in the state had reached 15,768 Mw, as compared to 14,750 Mw on the same day last year.

“Due to the changing lifestyles and increasing economy, the peak demand of 11,552 Mw was met during September 2011, as against 9,883 Mw during the same month in 2010, with an increase of 16.89 per cent. For the first time in the history of the state power sector during kharif, the peak energy demand of 286.7 million units is recorded on Sunday, which is an all time high,” he said in a press release.

Transmission and distribution (T&D) losses have been reduced to 17.05 per cent, which is one of the lowest in the country. Coal and natural gas are posing a lot of problems and hampering the progress of the existing and upcoming plants, he added.

It is estimated by the state energy department that the demand-supply gap over the next three years will be abnormally high with an average power deficit of 3,245 Mw.

“During September 2011, the AP power utilities have procured power at a cost of around Rs 6 from the power exchange, at as high as of Rs 10 per unit in the rabi season last year (March-April) to meet the demand and supplied power to industries at Rs 4.07 per cent on an average,” Kumar said.

In his keynote address at the CII interactive session ,the principal secretary said the number of industrial HT (high-tension) consumers in the state had been increased from 7,220 to 10,866 during the period from 2006-07 to 2010-11, with considerable increase of consumption from 11,477 Mw to 19,842 Mw during the same period.

“More than 1,800 express industrial feeders have been established to provide reliable, interruption-free supply to industrial consumes,” he said.