Vijayanand reviewed measures to implement the new ICE policy with senior officials of energy department.
Stating that the newly announced Andhra Pradesh integrated clean energy (ICE) policy-2024 involves a proposed investment outlay of Rs 10 lakh crore, special chief secretary (energy) K Vijayanand stressed on the need for collaborative efforts from power utilities to make AP contribute towards India's goal of economic self-reliance. He said the new policy would help the state achieve revenue of Rs 67,000 crore in the next five years.

Vijayanand reviewed measures to implement the new ICE policy with senior officials of energy department including Genco MD KVN Chakradhar Babu, Transco JMD Chekuri Keerthi, solar power corporation MD M Kamalakar Babu, CMDs of discoms, Pattansetti Ravi, I Prudhvi Tej and K Santosha Rao, on Sunday.

Vijayanand said ICE-2024 enables a robust regulatory framework for attracting investments in the clean energy sector, creating a platform for investments in this sector through creation of local employment opportunities and utilization of available resources in a sustainable manner. "The state govt is committed to promote generation from renewable energy sources, and created integrated policy and investment framework to spur competition, private participation in the sector, while maintaining a balance in the interests of all stakeholders," he said.

Special chief secretary said that the state govt has set ambitious targets to achieve 78.5 GW of solar, 35 GW of wind energy, 22 GW of pumped storage, 25 GWh of battery energy storage system (BESS). He said that the govt also set a target to achieve production of 1.5 MMTPA of green hydrogen and derivatives, 1,500 KLPD of ethanol, 1,000 TPD of Bio-CNG/CBG, 5,000 public charging stations (PCS) EV charging infrastructure and 30 GW of clean tech manufacturing.

He further disclosed that the state govt has already created new opportunities by reviving plans to encourage investors with 3 GW of solar rooftop capacity under PM Surya Ghar scheme to ten lakh households, 3.7 GW of solar capacity under KUSUM scheme for five lakh pump sets and 1,000 MW/2,000 MWh of BESS capacity under BOOT model for a tenure of 15 years. "The ICE policy has been designed in line with chief minister Chandrababu Naidu's vision to achieve net zero by 2047. We need to make efforts to make the policy a reality," said Vijayanand. He said that the new policy would also help create massive employment.