Telangana saves Rs 533 crore on power

Apart from this, the government saved about 122 MU energy and Rs 49 crore in the public exchequer by taking up energy generation at the point of consumption

Hyderabad: The Distributed Generation Model adopted by the Telangana government for adding solar capacity has helped save Rs. 533 crore at Extra High Tension (EHT) level in the transmission network. Apart from this, the government saved about 122 MU energy and an amount of Rs. 49 crore in the public exchequer by taking up energy generation at the point of consumption.

As the renewable energy generation at the point of consumption (distributed generation) reduces consumer’s electricity expenditure, and eliminates the cost, complexity, and inefficiency associated with power transmission and distribution, the Telangana government has been adopting Distributed Generation Model and it has proved to be very effective in cutting down costs, Energy Department officials said.

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The Telangana government has been giving a big push to renewable energy and taking measures to double it in next five years. According to the Socio Economic Survey released in the State Assembly, in 2021-22, Telangana produced 7,439.12 MW of renewable energy, making up 41.17 percent of the total installed capacity of electricity in the State. In comparison, the installed capacity of renewable energy in the State in 2020-21 was 3,806 MW, 22.10 percent of the total installed capacity, thus, between 2020-21 and 2021-22, the installed capacity of renewable energy in Telangana grew by 1.95 times.

The report further stated that the total installed capacity of renewable energy in the country in 2021-22 was 1,56,607 MW. Thus, Telangana accounted for 4.8 percent of the total installed capacity of renewable energy in the country. While the share of renewable energy sources in the total installed capacity was lower for Telangana than the other Southern States, it was higher than India’s value of 39.2 percent.

Telangana has vast solar potential with average solar insolation of nearly 5.5 kWh/m2 for more than 300 sunshine days. The Telangana solar power policy was introduced in 2015 with the objective of harnessing the vast solar power potential of the State and the success of the policy was evident from a rise in the installed capacity of solar power from 74 MW in 2014-15 to 4,432 MW in 2021-22, an increase of around 59 times.

There has been a rapid increase in the power consumption in the last eight years in the State, following which the government has started focusing on both thermal and renewable energy sources. Between 2019-20 and 2020-21.

The per capita consumption of electricity in Telangana in 2014-15 was 1,356 kWh( kilowatt of power for one hour). By 2021-22,it grew by 1.57 times to 2,126 kWh. Between 2020-21 and 2021-22, it grew by 0.94 times.

Telangana has the 2nd lowest transmission loss among South Indian States and the 4th lowest transmission loss in the country. The Electricity transmission and distribution loss of the state in 2019-20 was 15.28 percent compared to the all-India value of 20.46 percent.