ICC organizes Odisha Energy Conclave-2015 in Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar, Sep 9: Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) organizes 2nd edition of Odisha Energy conclave-2015, a conference on the leap towards sustainable power in Odisha here at Hotel New Marrion on Monday. Mr Panab Prakash Dash, Hon’ble Minister Energy, Government of Odisha joined as Chief Guest and Lighting the lamp on the presence dignitaries on the Dias.
On this occasion Mr M K Gupta, Executive Member, ICC Odisha Chapter & Managing Director, Gupta Power Infrastructure Ltd delivered the welcome address where Mr J B Mohapatra, IRS, Joint Secretary and FA, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, Mr Hemant Sharma , IAS , Chairman & Managing Director, GRIDCO & OPTCL, Mr Ranjan Mishra, Executive Member, ICC Odisha Expert Committee & ED, VISA Steel Ltd also presents on inaugural ceremony.
A special discussion on Conventional Power and Renewable Power and its Success Stories and way ahead was held on second session where Mr Hemant Sharma, IAS, Chairman & Managing Director, GRIDCO & OPTCL, address the session. Various topics like, emerging challenges in power sector, Financial assistance for green energy initiative, Solar strategy in the State of Odisha for penetration to domestic consumers including the subsidies by Government, various issues in captive power plants, Auctioning of natural resources and its impact in power sector were held. In this session Mr Arvind Kumar, Regional Executive Director, NTPC,Mr Santosh Kumar Sahu, Director – Finance, Odisha Hydro Power Corporation Ltd and Director, GEDCOL, Mr M P Mishra, General Manager-BD, NALCO, Mr Ritwik Mishra, DGM, OPGC present their valuable talk to audience.
On closing session of this ceremony Experts discuss about the Challenges and Present Scenario: Power Utilities in state. Various topics like Learning from the Reform Process and way forward for Odisha distribution, Alternative Energy Policy-Impact on Distribution, Automation in Power Distribution, Transmission & Generation, and latest technological development in power sector were discussed. Among others Esteemed speakers Mr B C Jena, Chairman, OMSPTRI, Former Member OERC, CMD GRIDCO & Ex-Chairman CESU Dr Omkar Nath Mohanty, Director, RSB Metaltech P Ltd , Mr Satyajit Mohapatra, Director-India Design Centre, SEMTECH India , Mr Rohit Bajaj, VP-Business, Development, Indian Energy Exchange Ltd also joined on this discussion. Special presentation form Mr Prasenjit Kundu, CEO, Guardian Education Services Ltd and Mr Pravi Kapoor, Program Development, National Skill Development Corporation were also showcased.
Encouraged by the significant response received from the 1st edition of the Energy Conclave last year, Odisha State Office of Indian Chamber of Commerce is happy to organize the 2nd edition of Odisha Energy Conclave here at BBSR today. Policymakers in India have been trying to introduce new methods on organizational and financial reforms, on operational and information technologies, as well as on corporate governance aspects, to enable the utilities to become viable, efficient and responsive to customer demands.
Eastern India is keeping pace with the development in the sector and has taken several initiatives which contribute towards its growth. Odisha was the first state in the country to embark upon reforms in the power sector, resulting in separate utilities managing the generation, transmission and distribution functions. The objectives of the reforms were to increase efficiency, bring accountability, attract private sector investment, and establish an independent and transparent regulatory regime.
Historically Odisha is a power surplus state. The installed power generation capacity in Odisha is expected to increase further from 5,511 MW in 2014-15 to 10,932 MW by 2021-22. Besides increase in generation capacity along with economic growth, the development of power transmission network that delivers the generated electricity has become an important challenge. The augmentation of the transmission system in Odisha will contribute towards the endeavor of providing 24×7 electricity to industrial, agricultural, commercial and household consumers.
The viability and sustainability of the Indian electricity sector are dependent on the success of the electricity distribution business, whether these are owned by the government or private sector. A number of experiments have been done with the electricity distribution sector in India, across all states, with initiatives from the central as well as state governments, regulators, multilateral agencies, utilities and investors. Initiatives such as smart grid, IT enablement and process automation, energy efficiency, demand side management, public private partnership, high voltage transmission system, renewable energy generation, systems operations , power trading, shall play significant roles in facilitating the development of sustainable power in coming years.
Odisha by virtue of its geographical location has the feasible potential for the production of nearly 12000 MW of power from renewable sources. The government of Odisha has constituted the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) and Green Energy Development Corporation of Odisha Limited (GEDCOL) to promote renewable energy generation with the sources such as solar, wind, hydro, biomass, geothermal and tidal energy sources. The prime objective of the seminar is to bring all the stakeholders and policy makers on one platform to discuss and give their views on the electricity sector to establish clean, reliable, sustainable and affordable modes of electricity sourcing and supply, and set forth directions to follow.