New Delhi: Union Minister for Power Manohar Lal Khattar urged Lakshadweep to reduce its reliance on diesel-based power generation and increase the share of renewable power generation at a review meeting held on Monday. The minister asked the Union Territory (UT) to reduce the cost of power generation over a period of time by increasing share of renewable sources of power generation like solar and wind or a combination of both and combining that with battery energy storage system so as to have a stable grid. He also asked the UT to explore the possibility for alternate sources of energy generation. Further, he emphasised on increasing the use of Electric Vehicles (EV) and to have solar-based EV charging stations to energise. He mentioned that it may be explored if a similar pilot could be done for boats which are currently diesel-run.
The minister advised UT to works towards greening few islands of Lakshadweep like Agatti-Bangaram, Minicoy and Kadmat to start with and assured all necessary support from the ministry. The minister assured Lakshadweep of continued support and cooperation from the Central government in the overall development of the UT.
Praful Patel, Administrator, Lakshadweep, who was present at the meeting, requested for approval of projects for interconnecting the islands through sub-marine cable for which detailed proposal would be submitted in due course. He highlighted the necessity of the project for quality supply of power across the island. He also requested for consideration of works related to Modernisation of Transmission and Distribution systems in the UT under Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS). It was remarked that the UT would make all out efforts for overall improvement in the power sector.
During the meeting, power sector issues for the UT of Lakshadweep were deliberated. The status of power generation in the island and the source of generation, the performance of the electricity department, the issues related to demand and supply of power, performance under flagship scheme of PM Surya Ghar Yojana and power distribution related issues were highlighted in the course of discussion. The status of Ground Mounted Solar project and the proposed project of floating solar power plant were also discussed. The meeting was attended by senior officials from the UT administration, officials from the Central government and officials from Power Finance Corporation (PFC).
