2-day conference on power-renewable energy concludes in Rajasthan's Udaipur

A two-day conference of power and renewable energy ministers of states and UTs was held on October 14 and 15 in Rajasthan's Udaipur, concluded on Saturday, said the Ministry of Power.

Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy (NRE), RK Singh chaired the conference. Other than him, Union Minister of State for Power, Krishan Pal Gurjar, along with several other ministers and Principal Secretaries of States and UTs attended the event.

"During the Conference, detailed deliberations were held with a focus on the Financial Viability & Sustainability of the distribution sector, the modernization and upgradation of power systems, and the 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," the Ministry said in the release.

As per the ministry, Considering the critical role of the distribution sector in ensuring financial and operational sustainability across the power sector value chain, it was emphasized to take effective steps towards the reduction of Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT & C) losses, ensuring cost-reflective tariffs, accounting of subsidy and 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 the reduction of AT & C losses, it was agreed to expedite the deployment of Prepaid Smart Metering for consumers and System Metering for establishing energy accounting systems. It was also agreed that subsidies for various categories of consumers shall be provided only on a 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, the ministry further stated.

Most of the states have already submitted their respective action plan under Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) to improve the financial and operational efficiency of their distribution companies (DISCOMs).

All efforts and policies should be focused towards providing better services to electricity consumers.

As per the Ministry, renewable energy deployment is central to achieving the target of net zero by 2070 and reaching 500 GW of non-fossil installed capacity by 2030 as per the 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 the policy, regulatory and institutional interventions required for fast-track implementation of renewable energy projects and states should support in achieving the non-fossil installed capacity objectives of GoI. Emphasis was also laid on creating enabling framework to enhance domestic manufacturing capacity in the RE sector through various incentive measures, the Ministry said.

"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 the PM KUSUM scheme," added a statement.

The officials and ministers also stressed on taking up BESS and Pumped Storage Hydro projects on priority so as to ensure future energy security. Also, they noted that future technologies including Green Hydrogen, Off Shore Wind, Off-grid and Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) applications need to be adapted.

The ministry noted that it was essential to source funding for investments from multiple sources as ensuring a 24x7 reliable electricity supply is critical to ensure the socio-economic development of the country and said, "The electricity demand in the country is set to double in the next decade and necessary capital investment, estimated over INR 50 lakh crores across power generation, transmission and distribution will be required to cater to such demand."

"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," added the statement.