Odisha Govt Ready To Meet Power Demand With 7,920 MW Production, Says Minister

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has taken several measures in power generation, transmission and distribution sectors to provide 24×7 quality and reliable power supply to the consumers, said Energy Minister Pratap Keshari Deb on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference in Bhubaneswar, Deb said with the present generation capacity of around 7,920 MW, the state is able to meet the average peak power of 4,500-5,000 MW conveniently. The transmission system availability is more than 99.9% in the last 10 years, he added.

Giving details on the provisions for the Energy department in Budget 2023-24, the minister said, “Provisions have been made in the Budget to address low voltage issues in a few pockets of the last mile consumers. We have launched a new Renewable Energy Policy during MIO, 2022. Budgetary provisions have been to implement the Policy.”

In this Budget, Rs 50 crore has been provided for Green Energy Evacuation Corridor and Rs 50 crore for Odisha Renewable Energy Development Fund. “We target to add more than 10,000 MW renewable energy generation capacity by 2030,” he said.

Besides, allocation Rs 1,446.50 crore for Chief Minister’s Power Development Program (CMPDP) and Rs 272.60 crore for Chief Minister’s Energy Conservation Program (CMECP) has been made in the Budget. The Budget allocation for major components of CMPDP include Rs 832.5 crore for ODSSP, Rs 364.98 crore for SCRIPS, Rs 100 crore for DRPS and Rs 50 crore for for Green Energy Evacuation Corridor.

“More than 100 33/11 KV sub-stations shall be commissioned by March 2024 to improve the voltage in low voltage pockets. For ensuring disaster resilient power infrastructure, schemes like Radial to Ring Conversion Project (RRCP Phase-II), State Capital Region Improvement of Power System (SCRIPS), Disaster Resilient Power System (DRPS Phase-II) are planned for implementation and a budget provision of Rs 477 crore has been kept collectively,” he said.

Under the CMECP, a Budget provision of Rs 250 crore has been made for Household Energy Efficiency Programme with an objective of promoting use of energy efficient home/household appliances. About 1,000 Energy Clubs are actively operating in schools as part of energy conservation & energy efficiency awareness program.

A provision of Rs 150 crore has been made for the Department to continue its flagship program Biju Gram Jyoti Yojana (BGJY) to electrify all left over households by August 2023. “Rs 415 crore has already been provided to the DISCOMs for providing electricity to the left-over habitations and households after closure of SAUBHAGYA in 2021,” Deb said.

In order to prevent electrocution of elephants, a budget provision of Rs 50 crore has been made under Elephant Corridor Scheme while Rs 690.2 crore has been allocated for strengthening of electrical infrastructure.

Nikunja Bihari Dhal, Additional Chief Secretary to Energy Department said that GRIDCO is supplying bulk power to DISCOMs at an average price of Rs 3.12 per unit in 2022-23 financial year, which is one of the lowest in the country.

“GRIDCO’s outstanding liability as on December 31, 2022 is about Rs 6,500 crore. Hence the government has started providing soft loan to GRIDCO at 5% per annum interest rate and 5 years moratorium period. While Rs 700 crore soft loan has been provided during FY 2022-23, Rs 700 crore has been proposed for FY 2023-24,” he said.

Total Budget estimate of Energy Department is Rs 3,002.53 crore including Rs 138 crore allocation for OPGC and Rs 100 crore for OPTCL as equity support, he added.

Gurbeer Singh, Joint Director, I&PR coordinated the Press Conference.