Departments told to adopt energy saving measures

Vijayawada: Chief secretary (CS) to the state government Anil Chandra Punetha directed all government departments to implement energy efficiency measures on a priority basis. The chief secretary said the state government is promoting the energy efficiency activities in a big way as part of second phase of power sector reforms aimed at providing cost effective and quality power to the people.

During the eighth executive committee meeting and fifth annual general body meeting of AP State Energy Conservation Mission (APSECM) at the Secretariat on Monday, Punetha, who is also the chairman of the SECM, said that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu wants an integrated approach among the government departments to make AP the best global state on energy efficiency front.

“The Chief Minister has already directed officials to make special efforts to utilise the services of the AP State Energy Efficiency Development Corporation (APSEEDCO) for vigorous implementation of energy efficiency measures in the state,” the chief secretary said.

The state has a potential of energy savings of around 13,408 MU (million units) with monetary savings of around Rs 7,857 crore in different sectors such as domestic, industrial, agriculture, streetlighting and other allied sectors. He said the state has achieved significant progress in the area of energy efficiency by implementing several initiatives.

AP is the first state that has taken up retrofitting of LED streetlighting in municipal sector in a massive scale and retrofitted 6.21 lakh streetlights in 110 urban local bodies with an estimated energy savings of about 133 MU.

The chief secretary said AP was also the first state in South India to incorporate the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) into the state law and was going to adopt APECBC-2017. Around 20-22 per cent energy can be saved in all ECBC complied commercial buildings. 

Principal secretary energy department Ajay Jain, associate professor, Administration Staff College of India, Raj Kiran, principal secretary for municipal administration and urban development, Karikel Velavan, principal secretary, panchayat raj and rural development, K S Jawahar Reddy, secretary, IT, K Vijayanand, principal secretary agriculture, Budithi Rajasekhar, Aditya Nath Das, principal secretary, school education, K Damayanthi and others were present.