AP CM to inaugurate thermal power plant at Nellore today

Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will inaugurate the prestigious project of Sri Damodaram Sanjeevaiah Thermal Power Station (SDSTPS) stage 2 (800 MW) Krishnapatnam Plant at Nellore and dedicate it to the Nation on Thursday.

The 800 MW super critical unit at Krishnapatnam generates 19 million units of electricity per day. This will help the utilities to meet the rapidly increasing electricity grid demand. The supercritical plant uses less quantity of coal for power generation as compared to the normal thermal power plants. This also reduces the negative impact on the environment.

The stage-2 unit of SDSTPS has been designed to run entirely on domestically produced coal which will help to reduce the cost of power generation.

The SDSTPS plant is the first supercritical thermal power plant in the country in the public sector. In the first phase, 2x800 units were launched. Also, in the second phase, another 1x800 MW capacity plant will be launched by the Chief Minister during his visit on Thursday.

Along with the Krishnapatnam 2nd unit, the State government has also taken the initiative to speed up the works of another 800 MW unit in Dr NTTPS in Ibrahimpatnam, said Energy minister Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy after a visit to SDSTPS Krishnapatnam Plant to review the arrangements.

He held a meeting with Special Chief Secretary for Energy K Vijayanand, CMD of APGENCO B Sreedhar and other officials to review the power generation and supply position and said that the thermal power generation plant at SDSTPS Krishnapatnam stage 2 (800 MW) and Dr NTTPS (800 MW) at Ibrahimpatnam will be a major step towards enhancing the power generation in Andhra Pradesh in meeting the growing demand.

The Minister said that the power utilities had taken measures to provide cost effective power to the consumers in the State and the utilities saved around Rs 4,925 crore through cost effective power purchases and other best practices in the last three years.

The utilities have also taken measures to reduce the transmission and distribution losses. The transmission losses were around 3.10 per cent in 2018-19 which was reduced to 2.83 per cent till May-22 in 2022-23. Even in reducing the distribution losses, AP is considered to be one of the best States in the country, the Minister said.

He said "Jagan Mohan Reddy is the only Chief Minister in the country, who has taken drastic initiative to provide power supply for the next 30 years to agriculture sector for which the government had entered into an agreement with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to procure 7,000MW solar power in a phased manner. AP is the only State that has given the right to farmers to get day-time nine hours free of cost for their agriculture connections for the next 30 years."