Need to develop robust battery storage system to tap solar power potential: Dhyani

PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun

Even as Uttarakhand is among the leading states of the country in implementation of Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Yojana and has increased its installed capacity of solar power generation to 363.04 MW, the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) has failed to reap benefits due to lack of battery storage system in the State.

The managing director (MD) of UPCL, PC Dhyani said that the efforts are being made to increase the battery storage capacity in the State. Interacting with media-persons at the UPCL headquarters here on Saturday, Dhyani said the corporation has received an incentive of Rs 13 crore from the Union government for effective implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Yojana. He claimed that more than 23,000 families in the State have become ‘zero electricity bill’ families under the scheme.

 Dhyani said that the process of installation of smart meters in the State is currently underway. He said that 42.8 per cent of total metres in the State have been replaced with smart meters. He informed that the smart meter is a very advanced device the control of which is in the hands of the consumer. It provides minute to minute information about power usage. It will also remove human interference in the billing process. The fault complaints will be auto generated and they will be addressed early. These meters provide the option of both prepaid and postpaid billing systems to the consumers. The smart meter can be recharged with a mobile App and the consumer can know about the power usage on a real time basis.

 The MD said that the proposal to increase the ex-gratia compensation in the eventuality of death of employees from existing Rs four lakh to Rs 10 lakh will be brought in the board of directors of the corporation.

 Listing the achievements of the corporation, Dhyani said that in the financial year 2025-26, the UPCL has reduced the Aggregate Technical and Commercial Losses (AT & C) losses to 13.58 per cent. The billing efficiency of the corporation is 87.92 per cent while the collection efficiency is 98.29 per cent which is better than the national average. The MD further claimed that in FY 2025-26, the revenue receipts of the corporation stood at 11,355 crore which is six per cent more than  FY 2024-25. He said that Real Time Data Acquisition System (RT- DAS) has been installed at 321 sub stations real time  monitoring which has helped in online monitoring and immediate fault detection.