SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu said the State government is considering framing a new energy policy with a target to offer more share to the state in hydropower projects.

The Chief Minister said, the former relaxation will no longer be in effect under the new policy, which will entirely eliminate the deferment of free power royalties. He stated that there would be a clause that would give the state a 15% part for the first 12 years, a 20% share for the following 18 years, and a 30% share for the following 10 years.

The central government and other PSUs will be contacted in order to enhance the state's share in projects that had already recouped their costs, the CM said. According to government policy, the area would be given for a 40-year lease for all prospective hydropower projects, he said.

The Chief Minister authorised the Energy Department to issue notifications after taking serious note of central PSUs' failure to sign pre-implementation and implementation agreements to establish hydropower projects.

The CM also gave instructions to streamline the procedure for issuing non-objection certificates (NOCs) for the development of hydroelectric projects. He said, the state has 172 hydropower projects with a combined capacity of 11,149.50 MW, and 58 other projects with a combined capacity of 2,454 MW are in various stages of development.

He also said  that the Energy Department should create a framework to monitor the hydroelectric projects being built through various state initiatives and that there shouldn't be any needless delays.

He went on to sayn  that the state suffers financial loss as a result of project building delays. In addition to using artificial intelligence to enhance the department's performance, the Directorate of Energy would be enhanced. The Chief Minister also gave instructions to hasten the building of solar projects that were being set up.

Himachal Pradesh has set a target of starting 500 MW solar power projects this year.

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