Power: Govt banks on investing in distribution infra, solar power
PANAJI
One major initiative in the power sector which has got a stimulus through the budget presented by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, is the rollout of digital smart meters which will improve accuracy in billing and thus cut down transmission and distribution losses.
Even before the budget could be presented, the smart metering initiative had got a leg up when the Sawant Cabinet had only a week earlier accepted the Electricity Department's proposal at a cost of Rs 467 crores.
The smart meters, which will give consumers the option of pre-paying their energy bills, will be executed by Digismart Networks Pvt Ltd initially for commercial consumers and government institutional consumers only. It will be fully funded by the Centre.
Other than the smart metering, no other significant power-related initiatives have been taken in this year's budget except for investment in the power distribution infrastructure through the conversion of the existing overhead feeders and transmission lines into an underground network. A total of Rs 239.77 crores will be spent on this work.
"Since these infrastructural works are all covered by 'plan expenditure' and some of them are ongoing projects, there will be no hurdles in execution, except for the inherent issues in the tendering processes," said a senior engineer in the office of the Chief Electrical Engineer.
Solar power boom
The budget has given a fillip to Goa's quest for solar power generation making provisions to initiate projects aggregating a combined capacity of producing approximately 20 megawatts of power.
One such project proposed is a 5-megawatt capacity, ground-mounted and roof-mounted solar plant at the Goa Engineering College campus in Farmagudi.
Another solar power generating initiative in the budget is to create infrastructure to produce a combined 13.6 megawatts of power at the various sub-stations owned by the Electricity Department across Goa. It involves setting up ground-mounted solar power plants at the sub-stations.
A third solar power initiative involves funding from the centre and the District Mineral Foundation to establish one of Goa's villages as a 'Model Solar Village' where every energy need will be fulfilled through solar power generation in that village.
