‘Private players’ contribution key to achieving Tamil Nadu’s 50 percent renewable energy target’ – EQ Mag Pro
CHENNAI: Inviting private renewable energy enterprises to help meet TN’s target of making 50% electricity generation from clean energy sources, electricity minister V Senthil Balaji on Wednesday said it is crucial as Tamil Nadu’s energy demand is expected to go up by 65,000 MW in the next 10 years.
Addressing the representatives of firms working in the renewable energy sector at an event in the city, the minister said the state government’s target is more than 43% target set by the Union power ministry and added that private participation is indispensable as the state alone cannot achieve the target, given the time and financial restrictions. “The state government would soon increase the capacity of its windfarm to 106MW and 13,000 MW hydro projects are also in the pipeline. Last year, Tangedco absorbed 100% of wind energy generated,” he said.
Citing that state’s present captive generation is just 25% of the total demand, he said that the government is working towards adding an additional 20,000 MW by 2030. Claiming that Tamil Nadu is one of the best industry-friendly states, he said, “We have addressed the delays in getting the new service connections and now industries would get supply at the earliest. In the last 10 years, electricity demand increased only by 29% till 2016 and 24% till 2021. However, we anticipate that there will be 10 lakh new connections every year,” he said. He justified the recent hike in tariffs and added that the concerns of MSME sector were addressed after they raised objections.
Senthil Balaji said TN is working to cut transmission losses by installing smart meters from generation-end to the consumer-end. He said Tamil Nadu is leading the way to meet the electricity demands in the future as the union government has adopted several initiatives mooted by the state after the DMK assumed power. He inaugurated FICCI’s summit on energy sector at event and awarded the best performers from the renewable energy sector.
Source: PTI
