SEPTEMBER 20239GMR SMART ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION SECURES A UP CONTRACT WORTH 5,123.37 BNCENTRAL GOVT TARGET OF SCALING UP ITS RENEWABLE ENERGY CAPACITY TO 500 GW BY 2030GSEDPL, a division of GMR Power and Urban Infra has been given a contract for a smart metre project in Uttar Pradesh worth Rs 5123.37 crore. Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam has issued a letter of award (LOA) for the installation of smart metres in the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, including Varanasi, Azamgarh, Prayagraj, and Mirzapur.GSEDPL would be in charge of installing, integrating, and maintaining 50.17 lakh smart metres in these locations. The project is expected to have a 93-month operational phase after a 27-month implementation phase beginning on the contract's execution date.The total contract value for the Prayagraj and Mirzapur Zone is around Rs 2,386.72 crore, and for the Varanasi and Azamgarh Zone, it is approximately Rs 2,736.65 crore. Following an e-tender procedure run by UP Discoms, the LoA was approved. Over ten years, the project will be completed.The Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Project involves the DBFOOT method for providing, setting up, integrating, commissioning, operating, and maintaining smart metres. According to the corporation, the design, build, finance, own, run, and transfer process depends on cutting-edge software and technology to provide fully automated end-to-end capability. The central government may look into green masala bonds and infrastructure investment trusts (InVITs) to meet its goal of increasing its renewable energy capacity to 500 Gigawatt (GW) by 2030, which will require an investment of Rs 17 lakh crore for long-term commitments.In contrast to the expected investment for the last several years, which has only been in the range of Rs 75,000 crore, this would also include associated transmission expenses, and the nation would need an annual investment of Rs 1.5­2 lakh crore in the sector of renewable energy. The renewable energy ministry aims to work towards investigating novel financing mechanisms in order to bridge this enormous gap between the required and actual investment, as well as the fact that the overall debt requirement is high and lowering the cost of financing for the renewable energy developers is important.Alternative finance options such the infrastructure development fund (IDF), infrastructure investment trusts (InVITs), alternative investment funds, green masala bonds, and even crowd fundraising for the renewable energy industry are likely to be examined. TOP STORYTOP STORY
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