Jayalalithaa seeks Modi’s help to evacuate wind power

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speed up establishment of an inter-State green energy corridor at the earliest to enable Tamil Nadu to sell about 1,000 MW of surplus renewable energy to other States.

In her letter to Mr. Modi, Ms. Jayalalithaa said Tamil Nadu, which had met its Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO), was in a position to sell about 1,000 MW of wind power to other States .

“To facilitate the sale of surplus wind power to the States in need of renewable energy, it is important that a dedicated inter-State green energy corridor is established ,” the Chief Minister said.

Acknowledging the proposal of Power Grid Corporation to establish such a corridor, Ms. Jayalalithaa requested Mr. Modi instruct the Ministry of Power to speed up the process. While infrastructure would take some time, the Power Grid Corporation could be directed to allocate dedicated transmission capacity on a priority basis to evacuate the surplus wind energy to other States this season.

During the current wind season, wind power up to 4,400 MW was being utilised in the Tamil Nadu grid based on the evacuation infrastructure that has been established. The State decided to establish an intra-state green energy corridor in 2013. Based on financing from the NCEF and further assistance from the German aid agency, KfW, such a corridor is well on its way to being fully operational, she said.

However, even with the implementation of the intra-State evacuation infrastructure, the entire wind energy generated in the State could not be fully consumed in Tamil Nadu, , Ms. Jayalalithaa said explaining the reason for the need for an inter-state corridor.

SOURCE: PTI