Team News Riveting
Kavaratti, December 23
Union Minister of Power, and Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal emphasized on the need for reducing dependence on diesel-based generation in UT of Lakshadweep by increasing share of renewable sources of power generation like solar and wind or a combination of both and combining that with battery energy storage system so as to have a stable grid.
He advised to works towards greening few islands like Agatti-Bangaram, Minicoy and Kadmat to start with and in this regard the necessary support would be provided by the Ministry.
The Union Minister was chairing a high-level meeting in the island to review the power sector scenario for the UT of Lakshadweep in Kavaratti today.
Union Minister mentioned that the cost of generation of electricity needs to be reduced over a period of time. . Union Minister also mentioned to explore the possibility for alternate sources of energy generation. Further, he emphasized on increasing the use of Electric Vehicles (EV) and to have solar based EV Charging stations to energise. He mentioned that it may be explored if a similar pilot could be done for boats which are currently diesel run.
Praful Patel, Administrator, UT of Lakshadweep was present in the meeting. The meeting was also attended by senior officials from the UT administration, officials from Govt. of India (GoI) and officials from Power Finance Corporation (PFC).
During the meeting, Power Sector issues for the UT of Lakshadweep were deliberated. The status of Power generation in the Island and the source of generation, the performance of the electricity department, the issues related to demand and supply of power, performance under flagship scheme of PM Surya Ghar Yojana and power distribution related issues were highlighted in the course of discussion. The status of Ground Mounted Solar project and the proposed project of floating solar power plant were also discussed.
Administrator, UT of Lakshadweep, in his address, thanked the Union Minister for his visit for review of UT of Lakshadweep in respect of issues related to the Power sector and also highlighted concerns of the UT.
The Administrator requested for approval of projects for Interconnecting the islands through sub-marine cable for which detailed proposal would be submitted in due course. He highlighted the necessity of the project for quality supply of power across the Island. He also requested for consideration of works related to Modernisation of Transmission and Distribution systems in the UT under RDSS. It was remarked that the UT would make all out efforts for overall improvement in the power sector.
Manohar Lal welcomed all the dignitaries to the meeting. He mentioned that his visit to the UT would help in resolution of issues and in identification of new initiatives that may be taken up so as to further improve services to the citizens of the UT.
The Union Minister assured for continued support and cooperation of the Government of India in the overall development of the UT and wished for the well being of the people of the UT.
