Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday (August 23) virtually laid the foundations for three Renewable Energy (RE) projects with a total capacity of 5,314 Megawatts (MW).
These projects are being set up at Junuthala in Owk Mandal of Kurnool district (2,300MW solar park), Kandikayapalle village of Panyam Mandal in Nandyal district (700 MW solar and 314 MW wind) and Muddavaram in Bethamcherla Mandal of Nandyal district (1,000MW solar and 1,000MW wind) in collaboration with Greenko, ArcelorMittal Green Energy and Ecoren Energy respectively.
Besides, a 50:50 joint venture agreement was signed on behalf of the Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO) and the National Hydropower Corporation Limited (NHPC) for the establishment of two Pumped Storage Hydropower Projects (PSHPs) with a total capacity of 1,950MW (a 1,000MW unit at Yaganti in Nandyal district and a 950MW unit at Kamalapadu in Anantapur).
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said the projects were a big leap taken by A.P. towards realising the potential of RE in tune with the steady global shift from fossil fuel–based energies to environment-friendly sources of power.
He observed that the PSHPs were like ‘natural artificial batteries’ that could generate clean power during the peak hours, and stated that 37 locations had been identified as PSHP sites with an aggregate capacity of 41,000 MW.
Of them, feasibility studies were completed at 29 locations for 33,240MW, Detailed Project Reports were prepared for 20,900MW and projects with 16,180MW capacity have been allotted so far. Feasibility studies are ongoing at three more potential locations for PSHPs with 2,750MW capacity.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that, as on date, the State was generating about 9,000MW of RE and was in the process of buying 7,200MW of solar power from the Solar Energy Corporation of India at ₹2.49 per unit to provide free power to the agriculture sector for nine hours a day.
Besides creating employment for locals, he said, the RE projects will fetch the government royalty at the rate of ₹1 lakh per MW, in addition to GST, for several decades.
On the other hand, farmers who offer their lands up for the RE projects would be given a lease rent of ₹30,000 per acre per annum with a 5% escalation every two years.
British Deputy High Commissioner for AP and Telangana Gareth Wynn Owen, Energy Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, Chief Secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy, APGENCO MD K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu, NHPC Director (finance) R.P. Goyal, and Executive Director Rajat Gupta and others were present.
