Odisha govt's budget push for green energy

BHUBANESWAR: The state government allocated Rs 50 crore for Green Energy Evacuation Corridor in the Odisha Budget presented by finance minister Niranjan Pujari at state assembly here on Friday. The corridor is dedicated to the evacuation and transmission of renewable energy.
“Climate change is the most pressing issue of present times. De-carbonisation of the energy sector is a key component of our government’s action plan to mitigate the adverse consequences of climate change,” said Pujari in his budget speech.
The budget has also allocated another Rs 50 crore for Odisha Renewable Energy Development Fund for accelerated development of renewable energy in the state.
A new scheme is being launched to promote use of energy efficient home/ household appliances under the Chief Minister’s Energy Conservation Programme (CMECP), for which Rs 250 crore has been proposed in the budget 2023-24.
The state has already come up with a Renewable Energy Policy, 2022 to give a big push to generation of renewable energy. Objective of the policy is to accelerate adoption of clean energy alternatives and decarbonize the energy sector which includes both grid-based electricity consumption and captive consumption of industrial consumers in the state.
The policy also aims to harness the clean energy potential of the state and make best use of the available resources by facilitating development of green energy projects in the state. It also wants to attract investment in the clean energy sector, create job opportunities and develop the state economy. It focusses on facilitating research and development works and promoting new initiatives and emerging renewable energy technologies in the state.
The state government through the nodal agency will provide a single window facility for approval of all renewable energy projects in the state. The nodal agency shall facilitate approval/allotment of all renewable energy projects in a time-bound manner, said the official sources.