AP lift schemes may hit power roadblock

In a first-ever attempt at creating the irrigation potential to 41.55 lakh acres through lift schemes, the Andhra Pradesh government is forming a new consumer category that requires 55 million units of power a day, a quarter of what the state consumes normally.

The near-impossible task is part of a Rs 90,000-crore irrigation project proposed by the Congress government, which is confident of completing them if given another 5-year term.

While the 17 lift schemes, most of them proposed in the Telangana region, require a whopping 2,353.22 Mw, the government has found a way out of meeting most of this requirement through hydel power to be generated on the new irrigation projects.

But, the additional capacity that would come from the four such hydel projects has been worked out at 1,800 Mw leaving a gap of over 550 Mw. Chief minister recently entrusted the job to develop, own and operate all the four hydel projects to APGenco after a one-and-a-half-year dilemma on whether it should give it to the state-owned APGenco or the irrigation department.

Now, APGenco will handle this job while the government will foot the bill based on the tariff to be exclusively determined for the lift schemes by the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission.

While the APGenco has already completed the tender process regarding the 120 Mw hydel plant on the Pulichintala project by selecting BHEL for supply of power plant equipment, the state government has handed over the development of two more projects to the power utility.

"In a recent meeting, the government has decided that the APGenco would develop the 960 Mw hydel project on Indira Sagar (Polavaram) and the 360 Mw Dummu Gudem Hydro project," G Adisheshu, director (Hydel), APGenco told Business Standard. The power utility is awaiting the official orders to go ahead with the two projects, he said. He said the APGenco will raise equity for these projects from internal accruals and with the support of the state government. The average per mega watt cost of these projects is estimated at Rs 4 crore.

Hydel generation is the cheapest source of energy in the long-term that comprises only fixed cost apart from the operational expenditure. Therefore, the government thinks that the lift schemes can be made viable when compared with the economic benefit expected from the assured ayacut under these schemes.

The Dummu Gudem project, a major lift scheme on river Godavari, was first announced by the then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

Of all the lift schemes, only two projects "" Dummu Gudem-Nagarjunasagar Tailpond and Pranahita-Chevella lift schemes, which together is estimated to cover 16 lakh acre ayacut, are now undergoing the tender process while the remaining projects have already been awarded to construction firms.