Odisha to prepare roadmap for green energy: Minister

Bhubaneswar: Energy minister Dibya Sankar Mishra on Wednesday said that there is a huge scope for green and clean energy in Odisha and the government is going to work out a roadmap for green energy for the state.

While delivering his address at Odisha Energy Summit organized by FICCI here, the minister said, “Odisha has more than six lakh hectares of water surface, out of which two lakh hectares of water is in reservoirs only which gives a competitive edge to this state to stay ahead of others in hydroelectricity. Apart from this, we can excel in solar power projects and also can get the desired results in the wind power sector.”

He said, “We have to improve our infrastructure to reduce losses in electricity supply. We have to supply power to every industry of the state so that they don’t need to put the captive power plant (CPP).”

“Odisha has huge resources of bauxite, iron ore and coal which make it a better destination for investment. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat like states have become saturated. At this point of time, Odisha can give maximum values to the investors. Odisha dreams to be a trillion-dollar economy and it got a sense. The energy sector can play a major role to achieve this dream. Actually, the road to development is energy now,” the minister said.

Energy Secretary Bishnupada Sethi said, “We are able to reduce energy loss significantly by installing smart meters. To ensure a stable power supply, we acted on every aspect of energy supply. So many customer-centric approaches are also adopted. We introduced multiple payment avenues like a bank, mobile payment, post office and etc. Odisha is now focusing more on the resilient power supply.”

FICCI Odisha State Council Chairman Subhrakanta Panda said, “From so many years, Odisha always in the forefront to take reform measure in the electricity sector. Odisha now becomes more prone to natural calamities. We have to create a robust infrastructure for electricity supply. Lots of work needs to be done. FICCI Odisha always ready to organize this kind of event to bring all stakeholders to a single platform to discuss various issues.”