Minister for Energy Balineni Srinivasa Reddy on Friday said the government was committed to taking energy efficiency movement to every doorstep in the State.
Speaking after presenting energy conservation awards to government and private organisations at the valedictory function of the Energy Conservation Week, the Minister said the government was promoting energy efficiency in a mission mode with an objective to benefit every family in the State in the form of reducing electricity bills and other costs and promote industrial and economic development.
The Simhadri Super Thermal Power Station (NTPC Simhadri, Visakhapatnam), Tirupati Municipal Corporation and Sree Jaya Jyothi Cements Pvt Ltd) won awards under gold category; Machilipatnam Municipal Corporation, Sri Damodaram Sanjeevaiah Thermal Power Station, Nellore, and Dalmia Cements, Kadapa, have been selected for awards under silver category; and the APEPDCL building in Visakhapatnam has been nominated for certificate of merit in the “'Building” sector.
Talking about the objective of achieving cost-effective power, he said cost-effective energy efficiency was a strong base for achieving cheap power and it would boost economic activity.
Expressing happiness over the fact that industries and thermal power plants, along with urban local bodies, were selected for energy conservation awards, the Minister appealed to the industry sector to come forward voluntarily and work with the government to enhance energy efficiency in the industries.
The Minister lauded the APSECM and the Energy Department for introducing the awards under the energy efficiency category. “This will inspire both public and private organisations and also the number of participants will increase by next year,” he said.
Secretary for Energy Srikant Nagulapalli said the State was one of the best performers in improving energy efficiency in industries under PAT compliance by saving 2,386 MU of electricity worth around more than ₹1,600 crore.
As part of promoting cleaner technologies among different MSME sectors in the State, an innovative low cost energy efficiency demonstration project through IoT technology was being implemented with the support of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, he said, informing that energy efficiency activities were being implemented in various departments, including rural water supply (RWS), education, judiciary, panchayat raj, municipal administration, energy, agriculture and other departments.
The State has set a target of achieving more than 15,000 MU of energy savings by implementing energy efficiency measures. “Setting up of Energy Conservation Cells in all government departments is a milestone which will be extended to the mandal level to penetrate energy efficiency to the gross root levels,” he said.
The APSECM officials explained that the National Productivity Council (NPC), an autonomous organisation under Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, did the evaluation process for selecting winners of the awards under four categories — thermal power production, cement industry, building sector and urban local bodies.
