Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said on September 11 that the state is pursuing a green energy strategy to meet rising electricity demand, including plans for solar power, pumped storage, battery-backed micro-grids and compressed biogas projects.
Responding to questions in the Legislative Council, Bhatti outlined the Telangana Clean and Green Energy Policy-2025, which combines conventional and non-conventional energy sources. He said Telangana’s peak electricity demand had increased from 15,497 MW in 2014 to 19,543 MW as of September 9. Demand is expected to reach between 20,000 MW and 21,000 MW this year, he said.
The government plans to provide 2,000 MW of solar power to farmers under the PM-KUSUM scheme. Farmers are being encouraged to establish solar plants with a capacity of 2 MW each. Bhatti said a pilot project for complete solarisation had already been completed and commissioned in Mannanur area of Achampet constituency.
He said the state spends ₹14,000 crore annually to provide free power to 29 lakh agricultural pump sets and another ₹5,000 crore to provide up to 200 units of free electricity to 53 lakh domestic consumers. The government is examining whether part of this expenditure can gradually be redirected towards solarisation, which Bhatti said could reduce the burden on the state exchequer and increase energy self-reliance among farmers.
The Deputy Chief Minister also addressed the development of pumped storage projects. Ten proponents have so far come forward to establish such projects in Telangana, he said. Preparing detailed project reports would take about 1.5 to 2 years, while commercial operations could take between five and eight years. Permissions will be issued according to the policy guidelines after the detailed project reports are submitted.
To address the intermittent availability of solar power, the government is developing village-level micro-grids with battery storage systems. Pilot projects combining solar generation and battery storage have already been taken up. Bhatti said three rounds of tenders had been invited with Viability Gap Funding from the Centre, but contractors did not participate because of the high cost of battery storage systems.
Bhatti said land prices in Telangana, estimated at ₹20 lakh to more than ₹25 lakh per acre, were making solar projects less financially viable for investors. The government is studying the limited wind power potential around Parigi and plans to invite tenders. It is also encouraging compressed biogas projects, while examining coal gasification after a methane gas project undertaken by Singareni at Manuguru was found economically unviable because of its high cost.
The government has entered into power purchase agreements for solar projects by DWCRA women’s self-help groups under SERP, using leased temple and government land, Bhatti said. He also told the Council that the Panchayat Raj and Municipal Administration departments are responsible for maintaining solar street lights in local bodies. The issue of non-functional lights will be reviewed with officials, he said.
