Leh, December 26: The Advisor to Hon’ble Lt. Governor UT Ladakh, Umang Narula chaired a meeting to review the status of various ‘Centrally Sponsored Schemes’ of Power Development Department (PDD) and Ladakh Renewable Energy Development Agency (LREDA) and Kargil Renewable Energy Development Agency (KREDA) at the Secretariat.

During the meeting, the officials briefed the Advisor about the electrification of villages under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), a scheme designed to provide continuous power supply to entire rural India. Under DDUGJY and PMDP, 20 new villages have been connected so far in Leh district and 16 in Kargil. Additionally, a total of 19 diesel generators have been phased out in the year 2020 and another additional five in 2021. The Battery Replacement Project under Special Development Package was also discussed, wherein, LREDA successfully replaced batteries of existing 20 Solar Photovoltaic Technology (SPV) sites. Similarly, KREDA replaced the old battery banks of nearly 22 SPV sites, under SDP 2011-22 Budget of Rs. 10.25 Crores, respectively.

In their detailed presentation, the officials apprised the Advisor that the agencies have installed numerous SPV plants for various institutions. Under Solar Thermal Projects, 1,000 solar water heaters and 600 solar dish cookers have been distributed by LAHDC Leh, whereas Polycarbonate Greenhouses are also being provided to progressive farmers. They stated that the projects have benefited hundreds of rural folks in Ladakh by meeting their cooking and water heating requirements in an environmentally benign manner, putting an end to the burning of firewood, fossil fuels, and paving for a cleaner and carbon-neutral Ladakh.

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The Advisor directed the LREDA and KREDA officials to focus on the PM Kusum scheme so that maximum benefit can be routed to farmers of Ladakh. He instructed the officials to take up mass publicity and advertisement regarding the scheme while also developing beneficiary criteria/parameters for all such schemes. He also directed the concerned Project Implementing Agencies (RECPDCL & PGCIL) to complete the projects reviewed within the approved timelines so that the benefit of the schemes is received by the public on time.

Later, Secretary, Power, Ravinder Kumar took stock of the situation and suggested ways to overcome the gaps in executing some plans and he also added that some of the Renewable Energy Projects will prove to be ground-breaking in the aim of making Ladakh carbon-neutral.

Future major projects and action plans were also discussed at length in the meeting, such as Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme, implementation of Smart Grid System with Smart Metering, development of Ring Network at 66 KV and 11 KV Level for both Leh and Kargil, construction of 66 KV Transmission Line, Substation, HT/LT network (Changthang Region), underground cabling in Leh town and setting up of State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) in UT Ladakh. KREDA plans to install Solar Water Heating System (5250 collector area proposed), up-grade the SPV plants and install new SPVs in Zanskar and establish 5MW SPV at Karsha Zanskar

Concluding the meeting, the Advisor reiterated that the main vision is to provide reliable and quality power to all consumers from a clean source of power. The Advisor was also apprised of the prospects of developing a sufficient clean source of power in Ladakh which could also be exported outside, that in turn could bring revenue to the UT.

The meeting was attended by Chief Engineer, Power Development Department; Chief Project Engineer, PDC, UT Ladakh; Superintending Engineer, Power Development Department, Executive Engineers of various divisions of PDD; General Manager, NHPC, Leh Ladakh; General Manager, PGCIL; General Manager, REC; Project Director, LREDA/KREDA.