Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh will seek the support of Union government in implementing the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) with an investment of around ₹11,000 crore for providing world-class services to electricity consumers in AP.
Disclosing this on Thursday during the 74th Republic Day celebrations organised at Vidyut Soudha in Vijayawada on Thursday, special chief secretary (Energy) K. Vijayanand indicated that the state government could get 60 per cent of the total investment on RDSS as grant from the centre.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion, he said the state government is taking special measures to increase the capacity of power generation in Andhra Pradesh.
As part of it, Sri Damodara Sanjeevaiah Thermal Power Station Unit III of 800 MW will become operational next month. This will help in meeting the summer demand to an extent. Another 800 MW will be available by May 2023 from Dr. Narla Tata Rao Thermal Power Station.
Vijayanand said they are also increasing the generation capacity of green energy. As part of it, AP GENCO is installing two additional units of 115 MW each at Lower Sileru. This power will be available by July 2024.
Further, 12 units of 80 MW are coming up at Polavaram. Seven of them will be commissioned in FY 2024–25 and the remaining in FY 2025–26. In addition, power utilities will start purchasing 625 MW of energy from Sembcorp Thermal Power Station in Nellore from December 31, 2023 or from the date on which its transmission network becomes operational, whichever is earlier.
The senior official reiterated that to further strengthen power supply in Andhra Pradesh, state government has entered into an agreement with Solar Energy Corporation of India to purchase 7,000 MW of power from September 2024 in the first phase, 3,000 MW from September 2025, and 1,000 MW from September 2026.
