Some states want listing of power utilities to raise funds Manohar Lal

    New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) Union Power Minister Manohar Lal on Tuesday said certain states have proposed to list power utilities to raise funds, as Rs 42 lakh crore investment in the sector would be needed to address rising power demand by 2030.
    India, he said, has met an all-time high demand of 250 GW in May this year, which will rise further.
    Out of 250 GW of power demand, fossil fuels-based power accounted for 200 GW in May, while the remaining came from renewable sources.
    Addressing a conference of state power ministers, Lal said a large amount of funds would be needed to meet the rising power demand in the country.
    The minister said the power sector would need an investment of Rs 42 lakh crore by 2030 to meet the growing electricity demand.
    Further, he stated that Gujarat and Haryana have proposed to get their power utilities listed on bourses to raise funds.
    The transmission and generation firms can be listed but discoms would need to improve their rankings before taking such steps, he said.
    The minister also said that some states are proposing to segregate Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) losses into two categories -- technical and commercial -- to find ways to reduce them.
    The AT&C losses in 2023-24 have increased to 17.6 per cent from 15.4 per cent in 2022-23, Lal said.
    He pointed out that the financial viability of the distribution sector is another concern and vital for the overall growth of the power sector in the country.
    He mentioned that the ACS-ARR (average cost of supply, average revenue realised) gap has improved to Rs 0.21/kWh or unit in FY2023-24 as per provisional accounts from Rs 0.45/kWh in FY 2022-23.
    He emphasised that the states need to ensure timely payment of government dues and subsidies. For government dues, states may establish a centralised mechanism for payment and all government offices should be brought on prepaid smart meters by March 2025. States were asked to work on ways to reduce the discom debts.
    He also mentioned that to promote smart meters, a 5 per cent rebate may be provided by states to prepaid consumers and must do effective consumer engagement.
    While launching Phase -II of Powerthon, he said that this would help in bringing innovative solutions based on AI for problems currently being faced by the discoms.
    Through a competitive process, 40 potential technology solutions will be incubated with total financial support of up to Rs 37 crore under Powerthon-II, and assistance of up to Rs 6 crore shall also be provided to discoms to scale up the solutions already identified in Phase 1.
    It was mentioned that a combined Ranking Methodology has been developed for ranking of discoms to create healthy competition. The first ranking is to be published by January 2025.
    He also suggested that discoms should promote the rooftop installation under the PM Surya Ghar Yojana.
    States should focus on nuclear-based Power Plant. Capacity likely to grow from 8GW to 20 GW by 2032, he added.
    States, which are away from coal sources, should consider setting up nuclear power plants at the sites where coal-based thermal power plants have completed their life.
    He emphasised that states should also take up Pumped Storage Projects (PSPs) and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in Renewable Energy rich areas, which would help in meeting peak demand in non-solar hours and better integration of RE resources in the grid.
    He also highlighted that capacity is to grow from around 5GW to 27 GW by 2032.
    Lal further said the ministry is supporting the installation of a BESS capacity of 12 GWh under the Viability Gap Funding Scheme and that states should avoid levying any water-cess charges and other such charges on power generation.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)