Focussed on expanding green transmission corridor, says Piyush Goyal

Recently Jayalalithaa had written to PM, stressing the importance of setting up a dedicated inter-State Green Energy Corridor

Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said expanding the Green Corridor — a power transmission corridor for renewable power — is the central government mission and the per unit cost of solar power is now comparable with that of traditional power sources.

Queried about the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's request to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for dedicated transmission capacity for wind power, Goyal said: "Expanding the Green Corridor is the mission of our government."

Recently Jayalalithaa had written to Modi to direct Power Grid Corporation to allocate dedicated transmission capacity to evacuate surplus wind power from the state. She had stressed the importance of setting up a dedicated inter-State Green Energy Corridor so that the surplus wind energy from Tamil Nadu can be successfully evacuated and sold to other States.

Goyal, who also handles the coal, new and renewable energy portfolios independently, said he had fruitful discussions with the Karnataka government on expanding the transmission capacity in South India.

He said that the Narendra Modi government has brought the cost of solar power to around Rs 4 per unit which is at par with that of other traditional sources of power, and the days when renewable power was unviable are gone.

On the Amnesty International's charge of human rights violations by Coal India Ltd, he said the charges are baseless and motivated by vested interests that do not want India to progress.

Earlier at a function in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Madras, Goyal said over the next three years no Indian home will be without power throughout the day.

Referring to his father who studied under street lights, he said no Indian child should be forced to read under poor lighting.

He also inauguratged the innovative solar-DC products and appliances developed by the IIT-Madras and its incubated renewable energy companies.