Plan to ensure 24x7 power supply in time to come, says UP minister

Power consumption between April and May this year was 27% more than what it was during the corresponding period last year, says AK Sharma

LUCKNOW Uttar Pradesh energy minister AK Sharma on Friday said that while trying to successfully deal with the immediate challenges posed by the state’s power sector, the government also had an ambitious plan to ensure qualitative and uninterrupted 24x7 power supply to people in the time to come.

The minister said on July 11, a peak demand of 26,500 mw was experienced and this was the highest ever in the state’s history. (Pic for representation)

Briefing media persons about his department’s achievements during the government’s first 100 days, he claimed that the energy department achieved all the targets despite the fact that a lot of time of officials went into dealing with the power crisis that started due to an unprecedented power demand.

“On July 11, a peak demand of 26,500 mw was experienced and this was the highest ever in the state’s history. The power consumption between April and May this year was 27% more than what it was during the corresponding period last year,” said Sharma, adding: “But we are successfully meeting the demand.”

He said power disruptions caused by local breakdowns like damage of overloaded transformers, bursting of cables was a big challenge and all efforts were being made to provide uninterrupted power supply to people.

“The Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme being implemented in the state will bring about revolutionary changes in the power distribution system,” said the minister. He said the work to separate agriculture feeders to ensure reliable power supply to farmers was also in full swing.

The minister said efforts were being made to produce more power by increasing the plant load factor (PLF) of the existing thermal power plants. “The PLF has increased from 66% to 80 % in a year,” he claimed.

Sharma further said that the government intended to give a push to the energy mix by promoting renewable energy in the state considering that setting up more thermal plants was not possible due to issues related to climate change.

ACHIEVEMENTS IN 100 DAYS

*Developing SAMBHAV portal to hear public grievances.

* Developing mobile app to keep record of health of transformers.

*Setting up two new distribution substations.

*Setting up seven new transmission substations.

*Installation of 5.75 lakh meters in unmetered consumers’ houses against the target of 3.68 lakh meters.

* Implementing the most successful one-time settle scheme (OTS)