10 years of Telangana: State, cursed to grope in darkness, becomes third-largest power generator

HYDERABAD: Remember N Kiran Kumar Reddy showing an India map holding a long wooden pointer to show how power transmission and distribution would push Telangana, if separated, into darkness. He had derisively remarked that Telangana would have to grope in darkness, while truncated Andhra Pradesh would be power-surplus.

Ten years on, and the situation began to shine bright with every passing year in Telangana.

A proud Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao repeatedly recalls the wrong prophecy of Kiran Kumar Reddy and impales him for his audacious comments.

The state that’s once ridden with long hours of power cuts for agriculture and domestic sectors and power holidays for industries, is now literally powerful, spreading radiance in all directions.

The state of Telangana is the third largest power producer in the country with an installed capacity of 17,305 MW. The installed capacity at the time of the formation of the state was only 7,778 MW. The State has 63 power-generating projects out of which 16 projects are conventional, while the remaining are non-conventional plants. Thermal projects with a total capacity of 600 MW and hydel projects totaling 360 MW are under construction. The line length of the Telangana Transco is 27,986 circuit kilometers and the Discom line length is 6,72,193 km.

On the other hand, the per capita consumption of power, which is an indicator of improving economic conditions, has almost doubled after the formation of the state. The per capita consumption of Telangana in 2021-22 was 2,126 units, which was 69.40 percent more than all of India’s per capita consumption of 1,255 units.

Strengthening energy infrastructure

The Government of Telangana, since its formation, has been promoting energy infrastructure in thermal, hydel, and renewable energy sectors. Telangana region has suffered a lot during the rule of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh with a regular peak demand deficit of 2,700 MW resulting in a load relief of 4–8 hours to households and other categories.

The erstwhile state’s industries had to experience two weekly power holidays. Crop failures and subsequent farmer suicides were caused by erratic electricity supply. Farmers used to spend sleepless nights in their fields not knowing when the lineman would switch on the power. Death by snake bites was a regular phenomenon. There used to be great demand for generators, and inverters in those days. Farmers lining up at the Transco offices for the replacement of burnt transformers was a regular feature.

After 2014, with the intervention of the government of Telangana, the power sector in the state underwent a remarkable overhaul. Now all the consumers of power, including the booming IT sector, receive 24-hour quality power. Telangana is the only state in the country to provide round-the-clock free power to 28 lakh agriculture consumers. On the other hand, Gujarat, which is considered as a developed state, is supplying eight hours of power to farmers and charging 0.60 paise by fixing the electricity meters.

Achievements of power sector

Telangana state’s contracted capacity has increased from 7,778 MW at the time of the formation of the state to 18,567 MW now. The state grid met a peak demand of 15,497 MW on March 30, 2023, and a record consumption of 297.89 million units on March 14, 2023. Earlier in undivided Andhra Pradesh, the peak demand was 13,162 MW on March 23, 2014 for all the 23 districts.

Another measure of efficiency in the transmission of power generated at the powerhouses is transmission loss. The transmission loss of Telangana at 2.47 percent is one of the lowest in the country.

The Telangana government also invested heavily in this crucial energy sector. An amount of Rs.39,321 crore was spent after the formation of the state in strengthening of the transmission and distribution network. The government is giving a subsidy of Rs.11,500 crores to distribution companies during the current fiscal to provide free power supply to agricultural consumers and subsidized power to poor domestic consumers.

In addition to the regular subsidy, Telangana Government has given an additional amount of Rs.9,161 crore to the distribution companies in the last five years.

Non-conventional energy

In accordance with section 53 of the AP Reorganization Act 2014, a separate Telangana State Renewable Energy Development Corporation Ltd., (TSREDCO) was created to act as the nodal agency for implementing all new and renewable energy programmes.

Solar power policy-2015

The government announced the solar power policy in 2015 to encourage the generation of solar power in the state by various means such as captive use, third-party sale, and sale to Discoms at an average service and pooled purchase cost.

In all, 3,953.13-MW capacity solar power projects have been commissioned in Telangana which include ground-mounted, solar net metering, and solar off-grid projects. The functional solar power plant under TS Genco at Revulapally in Jogulamba Gadwal district produces 1MW of solar power.

Wind Energy

The TSREDCO facilitated the setting up of two wind power units — one at Nazeerabad, Ranga Reddy district, and another at Mangi Thanda, of Zaheerabad totaling an installed capacity of 128.1 MW power.

Waste to Energy

Under this category, the Municipal Administration and Urban Development department of Telangana is encouraging the utilisation of urban waste for generation of power. Soon, the second 28-MW waste-to-energy plant will come up at Jawaharnagar. A 19.80-MW waste-to-energy plant is already operational there. The government is keen on producing 48 MW of power from urban waste to scientifically dispose of garbage.