TS eclipses Gujarat in energy efficiency: Vinod

Hyderabad: Telangana Planning Board Vice-Chairman B Vinod Kumar on Tuesday said that the NITI Aayog report on the State Energy and Climate Index (SECI) Round-1 where Telangana was number two in the country was the reflection of the vision, foresight and work ethic of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao towards the power sector.

Expressing happiness over the performance of Telangana, Vinod Kumar said that the SECI Round-1 ranks States and Union Territories on six parameters, including discoms performance, access, affordability and reliability of energy, clean energy initiatives, energy efficiency, environmental sustainability and new initiatives. He said that while Gujarat topped the index, they were two indicators where Telangana outperformed Gujarat. Telangana performed better than Gujarat in access, affordability and reliability of energy sources.

Overall, Telangana scored 2nd rank followed by Kerala in providing accessible, affordable and reliable energy. "It shows that Telangana is better than Gujarat in providing electricity to the agriculture sector. While Telangana scored 100 in Hours of Electricity Supplied to the Agriculture Sector, Gujarat only received 11.4 points," said Vinod Kumar.

The Planning Board VC said that the installed capacity of power in Telangana increased from 9,470 MW in 2014-15 to 17,218 MW in 2020-21 and the State was providing 24 hours free and quality power supply to agricultural farmers. Telangana was also the only southern State to provide electricity 24/7 to all consumers. Additionally, Telangana also performed better than Gujarat in energy efficiency, where Telangana scored 64.7, while Gujarat scored 40.1, he said.

Vinod further added that Telangana ranked 3rd among all States in energy efficiency. It should be noted that in 2021, the Singareni Thermal Plant was awarded by the Mission Energy Foundation for its effective utilisation of flyash. Also, Singareni Thermal Plant and Telangana State GENCO were declared to be the best power plants in the country, he added.