Lower Sileru hydro expansion gets environmental clearance

Vijayawada: Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has granted environmental clearance for expansion of the Lower Sileru hydro power expansion project.

With this, Lower Sileru will start generating an additional 230 MW of hydro power, thereby increasing the capacity of the project to 460 MW.

AP Genco is planning to commission the additional generation capacity of 230 MW by 2024 end at a cost of ₹415 crore, said K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu, AP Genco managing director on Thursday.

The official pointed out that AP Genco has been operating the hydroelectric project in Sileru complex at Mothugudem of Chintur mandal in ASR district from 1978 with an installed capacity of 4x115 MW. At the time of constructing the power house, provision had been made for adding two more units of 115 MW each in future.

“Now that peak time demand has increased, AP Genco has taken up installation of these additional units to avoid purchasing power at premium price,” the AP Genco MD pointed out at a meeting that reviewed the power situation on Thursday.

Participating in the meeting, special chief secretary (Energy) K. Vijayanand said all such major achievements have become possible due to Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy continuously monitoring the situation with support from energy minister Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy.

He explained that power demand has increased manifold in the state and reached a record high of 247 million units on April 20, 2023. The average power consumption in April 2023 has increased by 5–6 per cent when compared to the corresponding demand in April 2022. The power demand may reach 250 MU per day in the coming days, Vijayanand stated.

AP Genco director (Hydel) Satyanarayana and director (Finance) Venkateswarulu Reddy were among the senior officials who participated in the review meeting.