Telangana government committed to go only for pit-head thermal power plants, says Deputy Chief Minister

The Telangana government is planning large-scale capacity addition in the energy sector to complement the vision to be a $3 trillion economy by 2047 by meeting the energy demand of all key productive sectors with half of it from renewable sources, Deputy Chief Minister M. Bhatti Vikramarka, who handles the energy portfolio too, has said.

Giving a presentation on Telangana’s energy demand and planning till 2034-35, he said the peak demand of power, which was 17,162 megawatt in 2024-25, is projected to increase to 31,809 MW. To meet the demand growth, the government has planned the addition of about 6,000 MW thermal power generation capacity excluding the addition of 2,400 MW capacity addition from Yadadri Thermal Power Station soon in addition to the 1,600 MW added from the plant this year.

Explaining the need for thermal power generation for grid stability, Mr. Vikramarka stated that the government has already decided to go for new plants at Ramagundam and Palvancha, and the establishment of the power plants would be decided through global tenders with preference to NTPC in case of the PSU being among the two lowest bidders.

On the proposed site for a power project at Makthal, he said sufficient land is available there, but the type of power plant — whether solar, wind or thermal — is yet to be decided. He, however, made it clear that the government is committed to establish thermal power plants only as pit-head plants or near the source of coal production.

The Deputy Chief Minister stated that power demand has increased at an average 14.2% compound annual growth rate (CGAR) from 2014-15 to 2018-19, but it had slipped to 5.44% from 2019-20. After the Congress party returned to power, it has improved to 9.85% from 2024-25.

He alleged that the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government badly neglected the energy sector, with no focus at all on the battery energy storage and pumped storage power systems, both future components of the renewable energy sector. Neighbouring States such as Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have already surged ahead in the battery energy storage and power storage power generation with many projects in the pipeline.

The Congress government, however, is planning to go for a 1,500 MWh battery energy storage system development with the support of viability gap funding from the Ministry of Power. On the renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs), the Deputy Chief Minister said they are double-edged as they come with a term of 25 years with the possibility of falling tariffs in the open market every year.