Power Minister appeals industry leaders to go green

Referring to India's power sector, Singh said that his ministry has added more than 7.5 lakh new transformers.

New Delhi: Union Power Minister RK Singh on Tuesday gave a clarion call to industry captains in the power sector to promote renewable energy through green energy open access. "All industry should go green. There will be transparency in the approval process of the open-access application. Approval is to be granted in 15 days or else it will be deemed to have been approved subject to fulfilment of technical requirements. It will be through a national portal," said Singh.

In fact, the power ministry on Tuesday issued a notification of Green Energy Open Access Rule 2022. "These rules shall be applicable for generation, purchase and consumption of green energy including the energy from Waste-to-Energy plant," the notification said. As per the new rules, the renewable energy purchase rule will be the same for any entity or Discom. There will be no limit on production. "All applications for Open Access Green Energy will be valid from the nodal agency. Apart from this, plants of green Hydrogen or green ammonia will also be involved in renewable energy," it said.

Referring to India's power sector, Singh said that his ministry has added more than 7.5 lakh new transformers. "In 2015, a private survey had put out the availability of power in the rural areas at 12.5 hours on an average in the country. The same survey in 2021 has highlighted that availability of power in India's rural areas has gone up to 22.5 hours," said Singh.

Asked about the import of coal by Gencos, Singh said that the electricity generation companies have already started the process of importing coal for the blending process. "Most of the states have started the process. Even Coal India Limited has ramped up its production. There is a need to increase the production because of the high demand," added Singh.

Earlier on May 18, the Power Ministry pointed out that if orders for coal imports are not placed by May 31, 2022, the defaulter Gencos will have to increase their imports to the extent of 15 per cent.