MoU Signed Between Banks and BEE for Power Efficiency Projects

APSECM will enter into an MoU with the BEE for facilitating the financing of energy-efficiency projects in the state under PRGFEE scheme.

Andhra Energy Secretary Srikant Nagulapalli said that the committee of financial institutions, empanelled by AP State Energy Conservation Mission (APSECM), will enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) for facilitating the financing of energy-efficiency projects in the state under Partial Risk Guarantee Fund for Energy Efficiency (PRGFEE) scheme.

While inaugurating energy conservation week, Srikant announced that the government has decided to encourage energy-efficiency in all key energy-intensive sectors, particularly industries, buildings, and agriculture.

“The APSECM had constituted a committee of eight banks and three non-banking financial companies for facilitating the financing of energy-efficiency projects in the state under PRGFEE. The BEE has institutionalized the PRGFEE that provides banks and NBFCs with partial coverage of risk involved in extending loans to energy-efficiency projects. This would guarantee 50 percent of the loan amount or Rs 10 crore per project to scale up energy-efficiency investments in Andhra Pradesh”.

Nagulapalli continued, “The APSECM would invite tenders for selecting an agency to supply IoT-enabled power monitoring devices to MSMEs that would help promote energy-efficiency in industries. The device gives real-time information on electricity voltage fluctuations that would help the MSME’s owner take immediate steps to save energy and ensure the safety of machines.”

Moreover, he said the government is spending around Rs 42,000 crore for purchasing power from various sources.

Recently, Andhra Pradesh became the latest state to come out with an EV policy that seeks much more than more EVs on the road by 2024. The state’s new EV policy hopes to attract an investment of Rs 30,000 crore and create 60,000 jobs in electric vehicles (EVs) manufacturing. All this, while getting a million EV’s registered in the state by 2024. The state, which has been high on announcements in the recent past, discussed these plans at a meeting with the Niti Aayog. These discussions follow the state’s EV policy announced in August this year when there was also talk of building a gigafactory for battery manufacturing in the state.