PANAJI
Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday asked the Goa government to undertake a feasibility study for setting up a nuclear-based power plant in the State in order to meet its growing demand and to reduce its 80 per cent dependence on electricity imports. The State has agreed to consider the proposal.
Khattar, who is also Minister for Urban Development, chaired a crucial meeting to review the power scenario of the State and also urban development. MoS Shripad Naik, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Power Minister Ramakrishna Dhavalikar and Urban Development Minister Vishwajit Rane attended the meeting.
During the meeting, the State proposed a 24x7 water supply scheme for which it has sought Rs 652 crore central assistance, which the Union Minister said would be actively considered.
Apart from this, the Minister assured to release Rs 113 crore under Swachh Bharat Mission for setting up three sewerage treatment plants (STPs), each at Margao, Sanquelim and Ponda.
Speaking to media persons post meeting, Khattar said that the government of India is encouraging States to consider nuclear power plants, particularly those lacking coal resources, as a way to meet growing power demands and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. He said that the country, which currently has about 8 gigawatt of nuclear capacity, aims to increase it to 100GW by 2047.
Khattar said that given that around 80 per cent of Goa’s electricity is procured from outside the State, the State is asked to explore all possible avenues for local generation of power.
“During the meeting, I was satisfied with the State's progress on the power front but the focus should have been on having its own power generation plant. State has no scope for thermal based power plants or hydro power plant. Also, solar power plant is also not so far successful due to excessive rainfall,” he said.
“Hence, Goa is asked to explore setting up a nuclear based power plant. Feasibility study has been proposed. A detailed discussion was held. If demand comes from the State, we will consider it,” the Union Minister said.
To this, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that the State is currently producing only 99 MW of solar power and will seriously consider various proposals put forth by the Minister and conduct required study.
Earlier speaking, Khattar expressed displeasure over Goa’s slow progress on implementing smart power meter projects and directed the State to expedite it. The State is also given a target to have 22,000 solar connections under Prime Minister Surya Ghar-Muft Bijli Yojana by 2026-27.
The review focused on loss reduction initiatives and progress under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme. Goa has brought down its aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses to 9.32 per cent, which is significantly below the national average. “This is a testament to the State’s sustained efforts in improving the efficiency of its power distribiton system,” he said.
The Minister also asked the State to identify and list its power utilities to meet increasing investment demand in the power sector as well as improve the transmission system to add more renewable capacity.
