AP's Green Energy Corridor to strengthen infra for evacuating power from Rayalaseema to Coastal Andhra Project envisaged with an investment of Rs.21,800 crore, aims to drastically cut distribution losses

Andhra Pradesh's green energy target to produce 72 GW by 2029 received a booster dose with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) giving its nod for developing a Green Energy Corridor at a cost of Rs.21,800 crore to address transmission gaps and speed up clean power evacuation from Rayalaseema to high-demand coastal demand hubs.

The corridor is expected to meet the requirements to put an end to transmission problems for clean power flow from high-generation areas to high-demand areas. This is also aimed at putting distribution loss, which is 9% at present, at bare minimum.

With the development, the proposal for the corridor in Anantapur and Ramayapatnam will be put before the Ministry of Energy for final approval. The funding pattern includes 20% equity participation by Andhra Pradesh Government, 40% by Government of India and the remaining will be mobilised through loans. Originally, the corridor was mooted at a cost of Rs.28,436 crore,

The plan is to develop transmission infrastructure with 350-km long high-tension transmission lines and construct a series of new age sub-stations. It envisages evacuating 11,00 MW renewable energy and 7,000 MW pumped storage to Central Grid for supply to the coastal areas, where the demand will be morde due to establishment of several AI-propelled data centres by the joint ventures being formed by Google and Reliance Industries.

At a review meeting, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is keen on implementation of the green corridor project in a time-bound manner, directed the officials to draw up short, medium and long term plans to generate low-cost, reliable and high quality power. The optic fiber project is further expected to fetch a revenue of Rs.70,000 crore.

With Andhra Pradesh elaborating its focus on encouraging clean energy in a big way, The 30th edition of CII Partnership Summit also evoked a remarkable response from the investors in signing MoUs. Among the MoUs envisaging an investment of Rs.13.25 lakh crore, clean energy accounted for Rs.5.35 lakh crore. Brookfieldbacked Evren committed an investment of $12 billion. ReNew Energy Global Plc announced MoUs for $6.7 billion in addition to an earlier commitment of $2.6 billion. AM Green Group inked an MoU for an investment of Rs.54,000 crore with Rs.44,000 crore on green aluminium complex and green ammonia facility at Kakinada and Rs.10,000 crore in biorefineries and sustainable aviation fuel plan in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Anakapalle districts of North Coastal Andhra.