Udaipur, October,
2022.
The conference of
Power and Renewable Energy Ministers of State/ UTs was held on 14th and 15th October, 2022 in Udaipur, Rajasthan. Shri R.K Singh ,
Union Minister for Power and NRE chaired the conference. Shri Krishan Pal
Gurjar, Minister of State for Power , Deputy CM/ Power/ NRE Ministers of States
along with Principal Secretaries of States and UTs attended the event.
During the Conference, detailed deliberations
were held with focus on Financial Viability & Sustainability of
distribution sector, Modernization & upgradation of power systems, and
Development of Power Systems to ensure 24x7 power supply including investment
requirement & Power Sector Reforms. The States provided their
inputs and suggestions on each of these pertinent issues.
Considering the critical role of distribution
sector in ensuring financial and operational sustainability across the power
sector value chain, it was emphasized to take effective steps towards reduction
of Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses, ensuring cost
reflective tariffs, accounting of subsidy & timely payment of subsidy by
state governments, clearance of outstanding dues of State Government
departments and adherence to Electricity (Late Payment Surcharge and Related
Matters) Rules, 2022 (LPS Rules) for timely payment of dues to generating
companies etc. For reduction of AT&C losses, it was agreed to expedite
deployment of Prepaid Smart Metering for consumers and System Metering for
establishing energy accounting systems. It was also agreed that subsidy for
various category of consumers shall be provided only on per unit basis on
actual energy consumption. Overall it was noted that there has been substantial
progress made in the steps being taken to improve the viability of the power
systems.
Most of the states have already submitted
their respective action plan under Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS)
to improve financial and operational efficiency of their distribution companies
(DISCOMs).
All efforts and policies should be focused
towards providing better services to the electricity consumers.
Renewable energy deployment is central to achieve
the target of net zero by 2070 and to reach 500 GW of non-fossil installed
capacity by 2030 as per commitment of the nation towards achieving climate
change goals.
Highlighting the achievements in the past few
years in the Renewable energy sector, deliberations were made on policy,
regulatory and institutional interventions required for fast-track
implementation of renewable energy projects and states should support to
achieve the non-fossil installed capacity objectives of GoI. Emphasis was also
laid on creating enabling framework to enhance domestic manufacturing capacity
in RE sector through various incentive measures.
States should endeavour to deploy solar rooftop
systems expeditiously to ensure meeting the overall target of 40 GW.
States were encouraged to accelerate
solarization under PM KUSUM scheme.
To ensure future energy security,
implementation of energy storage including BESS and Pumped Storage Hydro
projects should be taken up on priority. Future technologies including Green
Hydrogen, Off Shore Wind, Off grid and Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE)
applications need to be adapted.
Ensuring 24x7 reliable electricity supply is
critical to ensure socio-economic development of the country. The electricity
demand in the country is set to double in next decade and necessary capital
investment, estimated over INR 50 lakh Cr., across power generation,
transmission and distribution will be required to cater such demand. It
is therefore essential to source funding for these investments from multiple
sources.
Attracting large scale investments requires
ensuring ease of doing business in the country for effective private sector
participation. Moving in this direction, GoI has taken various initiatives like
LPS Rules 2022, Electricity (Timely Recovery of Costs due to Change in Law)
Rules 2021, Electricity (Promoting RE through Green Energy Open Access) Rules,
2022, Introduction of RTM, GTAM and GDAM in electricity markets.
The Union Minister sought
the cooperation from the States in achieving the ambitious goals that are set
before the power sector.