The Consultative Committee attached to Ministries of Power and New & Renewable Energy met under the chairmanship of Union Minister of State (IC) for Power & New & Renewable , Shri RK Singh in Guwahati today . The Committee reviewed the functioning of NHPC Ltd and implementation of the Solar Rooftop Programme and the Solar Pumps Programme .
Before starting the proceedings , Shri R.K Singh administered the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas pledge to the Hon’ble Members and senior officers of the Ministry of Power and NHPC Ltd.
Highlighting the importance of Hydropower , Shri Singh said that for economic development not only we need power but we need clean power . The Minister further stated that Hydro projects have relatively longer useful plant life and help in providing inexpensive power in long term and is ideal for meeting peaking load and as a spinning reserve . Therefore , development of hydro power projects needs to be encouraged , the Minister added.
The Consultative Committee meeting started with a presentation on NHPC Ltd by its Chairman and Managing Director, Shri Balraj Joshi . The presentation gave an overview of areas of operation of NHPC , Portfolio of projects , performance of financial parameters, its diversification into thermal and renewables , CSR activities and the challenges ahead and the way forward.
Shri Joshi informed the Hon’ble Members that in addition to commissioning of 22 projects of 6691.2 MW ( including Joint Ventures) , NHPC is presently engaged in 25 projects involving 14000.5 MW , which are under various stages of development in Hydro, Solar & Thermal. Out of these , 3 hydro projects aggregating to a total installed capacity of 3130 MW and one solar project of 50 MW in Tamil Nadu are under construction. One hydro project of 1000 MW of JV Company i.e CVPPL has been accorded CCEA clearance & re-tendering is under finalisation. Further , 14 projects of 9167.5 MW are at various stages of clearances for their implementation. Six hydro projects of 553 MW are in the pipeline for preparation of feasibility report and another 3 hydro projects of 805 MW are on anvil. Further , NHPC is envisaging addition of 150 MW Solar Projects in association with SECI . NHPC has expanded its objective of developing renewable source of energy by commissioning 50 MW wind project in Jaisalmer , Rajasthan , Shri Joshi added.
The second half of the meeting consisted of the presentation on Implementation of the Solar Rooftop Programme and the Solar Pump Programme Wind Energy Programme by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy . The Hon’ble Members were apprised of status of Solar Rooftop Programme including major initiatives being undertaken for development of Solar Rooftop Systems . Hon’ble Members were informed that 2363 MWp solar rooftop systems have been sanctioned and about 810 MWp aggregate capacity has been installed in the country so far . These systems have been installed in residential , industrial , commercial and institutional sectors. Based on the experience in implementing the Scheme , Hon’ble Members were also informed about proposed new Rooftop scheme , which is being contemplated by removing the existing operational difficulties.
Regarding Solar Pump Programme , the Hon’ble Members were briefed about its salient features and progress made thereof . A total 1, 80, 908 number of Solar pumps have been sanctioned and 1,35 ,545 number of solar pumps have been installed under this Programme till 30th September ,2017. The Ministry is in the process of formulating new Scheme for Solar Pumps to promote Stand-alone solar off-grid pumps with an objective to replace existing diesel pump sets . Similarly , a new Scheme for solarisation of grid connected solar pumps is also being formulated for areas where agriculture feed is separated.
All members congratulated the Government & NHPC for its overall performance. Hon’ble Members gave their valuable suggestions to further improve the performance of NHPC , CSR activities , exploring Pump Storage Hydroelectricity and strengthening of the state transmission. Some members suggested that the quality of power distribution infrastructure needs to be monitored and accountability needs to be fixed on the ground level to ensure that there is last mile coverage of beneficiaries. Regarding Solar Rooftop and Pumps programmes , Hon’ble members gave several suggestions for improving implementation of these Programmes and stated that these Programmes need to be promoted .
Responding to the suggestions and queries raised by the Consultative Committee members, Shri RK Singh assured Hon’ble Members that their valuable suggestions would be adopted by the Ministries & NHPC.
The meeting was attended by Shri Jugal Kishore Sharma, Shri Krishnan Narayanasamy Ramachandran, Shri Naranbhai Bhikhabhai Kachhadia, Shri Shailesh (Bulo Mandal) Kumar, Shri Sushil Kumar Singh and Shri Uday Pratap Singh , Shri C M Jatuwaa , Shri Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, Shri Om Prakash Yadav from Lok Sabha and Shri Mahesh Poddar , Shri Ch. Sukhram Singh Yadav , Shri K G Kenye and Shri Lal Singh Vadodia from Rajya Sabha.
The Secretary, Power, Shri AK Bhalla and Shri Anand Kumar , Secretary MNRE , the Chairman cum Managing Director & Directors of NHPC , and senior officials of Ministries of Power and New & Renewable Energy also attended the meeting.
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