Mumbai, Feb 21 (IANS) Energy Department Additional Chief Secretary Abha Shukla on Thursday said that due to economic progress, the electricity requirement of Maharashtra by 2030 will be more than that of developed countries like Germany, Spain and Italy in Europe.
“Under the leadership of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the state’s energy transformation plan has been prepared with an investment of Rs 3.3 lakh crore and Maharashtra is ready to meet future challenges,” said Shukla who was speaking while inaugurating a one-day seminar on solarisation of the agricultural sector in Maharashtra organised by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Lokesh Chandra, Chairman and Managing Director of Mahavitaran and Sujata Gupta, Director of Energy, ADB were present on the occasion.
Shukla said that in order to make Maharashtra a trillion-dollar economy, the state’s economic development will accelerate in the next five years and with it, the state’s electricity requirement will increase exponentially.
“Keeping in mind the future challenges, an energy transformation plan has been prepared to increase the state’s current capacity of 42 thousand MW to 81 thousand MW by 2030. While increasing the state’s energy capacity, the emphasis on renewable energy will not only help in protecting the environment but also reduce the cost of electricity due to the availability of electricity at cheaper rates,” she added.
She said that the Mukhyamantri Saur Krishi Vahini Yojana 2.0 (MSKVY 2.0), which will run all agricultural pumps in the state on solar energy and supply electricity to farmers during the day, will add 16,000 MW of solar energy capacity to the state in the coming years.
Apart from this, a total of 36,000 MW of electricity generation capacity will increase in the state from renewable energy sources such as solar energy and wind energy. To meet the increasing demand, the remaining electricity will be obtained from conventional sources.
“The state’s energy transformation plan has been prepared by studying requirements of three sectors of generation, transmission and distribution in detail and its effective implementation is underway,” she said.
Meanwhile, Lokesh Chandra said that the MSKVY 2.0, is a game-changer scheme. Under this scheme, all agricultural pumps in the state will be run on solar energy by 2026. Maharashtra will be the first state to use 100 per cent solar energy for the agricultural sector.
Also, Sujata Gupta said that the world’s largest agriculture solarisation project is being implemented in the state. This will not only help the agricultural sector but will also improve the economic health of the energy sector. It will especially help in reducing electricity tariffs.
“MSKVY 2.0 is an innovative scheme and challenges are being effectively addressed while implementing it. ADB is cooperating with Mahavitaran for the implementation of this scheme,” Gupta said.
–IANS
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