CANACONA
Per capita electricity consumption is a vital indicator of success needed for growth of economy and GDP essential for the smooth running of a State and country, said Stephen Fernandes, Chief Electrical Engineer, Department of Electricity.
The 4th State programme of 'Ujjwal Bharat-Ujjwal Bhavishya’ countrywide campaign by
Ministry of Power, Government of India that was held in Canacona was Inaugurated by Ramesh Tawadkar, Speaker, Goa Legislative Assembly.
Tawadkar called on all stakeholders to extend support in making the State self-reliant in the power sector by opting various modes of renewable energy and said when 100 per cent underground cabling is done in Canacona, it will help in providing uninterrupted power.
"Electricity Department will expedite the underground cabling work," Tawadkar said.
Chief Electrical Engineer Stephen Fernandes stating that electricity is an essential need, said it is used right from the time one wakes up to till going to sleep, further informed about various initiatives taken by the Electricity Department to resolve issues of power supply and promote use of renewable energy. "The power cost which has been Rs15-16 a unit is now provided to consumers at Rs 2-3 a unit, " he said.
"In 1947 country's full generation was just 1362 Megawatts (MW) in Power Sector with just a 15-16 units consumption per capita. Now, even low strata consumer uses a minimum of 50 units, even as it took 50 years to produce 88,000 MW. With tremendous acheivements on development of power sector, now our national full generation power grids produce 4 lakh MW of power, " he added.
Fernandes went on to explain how Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the year 2015 gave a target of 175 Kilowatt (KW), at a time when India was 3rd in emission of carbon which many said was impossible. In 2019, PM again made a commitment of 450 KW, while country achieved 40% of renewable energy in 2021, and going by the development taking place the country is going to acheive 40% by 2030.
"The five different power grids: Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western and North-Eastern were subsequently merged into a single power grid on Dec 31, 2013 in the whole nation with a concept of One-Nation, One-Grid, One-Frequency- National Grid , the biggest in the world," Fernandes said. "Our country is very rich in God given gifts with different states/region specialised in power generation like water-based, solar-based, wheels-based and coal-based power grids.
Later, Superintending Engineer Rajiv Samant spoke on the achievements of the Electricity Department.
On the occasion, a group of artistes 'Antruz Ghudyo' presented 'Divli' dance and nukkad natak. Various video films exploring achievements of the Central and State Government in power sector and renewable energy were screened during the programme.
Pravin Sabnis compered the function. Director, Renewable Energy Aleixo da Costa proposed a vote of thanks.
