Find holistic solutions to power crisis, state govt urged

The National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), a pan-India alliance of 150 people’s organisations, on Wednesday urged the Andhra Pradesh government to look beyond electricity shortages and find holistic solutions for the energy crisis that is prevalent in the state.

“We have power generating capacities but are unable to meet the requirements because of coal shortage. Skewed policies, which promote unbridled exploitation of natural resources, have resulted in the breaking up of natural energy cycles,” K Babu Rao, scientist and convenor, Movement for People-centred Development (MPDC), told mediapersons here.

According to the data compiled by NAPM, Andhra Pradesh, at present, has 15,756.48 Mw of power generation capacity. While APGenco produces 8,421.86 Mw, central government’s units are providing 3,397.45 Mw, together catering to 78.1 per cent electricity requirements of the energy-constrained state.

 

“The solution is not in purchasing additional power but in reducing the consumption and bringing down the transmission and distribution (T&D) losses in the state from the current 16 per cent. We are suggesting some short and long-term measures to overcome the situation,” said Sagar Dhara, environmental engineer, Cerena Foundation.

The proposed measures include slapping higher tariffs on those who excessively use air-conditioners and, implementing the Energy Conservation Act effectively, making it mandatory in town planning to audit all buildings for energy efficiency and impacts, and promotion of solar water heaters, which has been implemented successfully in the neighbouring Karnataka.

“No efforts have been made to upgrade the grids in the state, resulting in T&D losses. We are suggesting the government to initiate measures to reduce these losses. Besides, the state should encourage rural and urban consumers and the industry to switch to locally-generated power like solar and wind,” Thimma Reddy, energy analyst, Peoples Monitoring Group on Energy Regulation, said, adding they would submit a memorandum on the same to the government shortly.