The people of the country are slowly emerging from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Odisha government on Tuesday directed the concerned authorities to ensure uninterrupted quality power supply to rural and industrial sectors. Odisha which was power deficit in 1990s, is now a power surplus state. Besides, Odisha has also taken significant efforts in production of green energy. Reviewing the progress in power production from different sources by video conference from the Lokseba Bhavan, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy directed the Grid Corporation of Odisha (GRIDCO) to adopt more effective commercial strategies for the sale of available power.
Government is encouraging new comers to source from GRIDCO with assurance of timely and quality power supply. The Chief Secretary also directed the Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) to explore the possibilities of producing more hydro power from existing dams having no submergence, land acquisition and displacement issues. GRIDCO MD Trilochan Panda said that the power generation's total output reached 3,489 MW during 2019-20 financial year including 2,468 MW from thermal, 854 MW from hydro and 167 MW from non-conventional renewable sources were detailed.
The state's average demand is 3200MW. With rural electrification and industrialisation, the power demand will increase in the coming years. To meet the increasing demands, GRIDCO is all set to generate around 4,300 MW of power during 2020-21.
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