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To tackle soaring urban energy demands and accelerate India's green transition, Dr Nilesh Kane, Chief-Transmission and Mumbai Distribution at Tata Power, on Friday announced a definitive roadmap to reduce coal dependency by 2029 and significantly upgrade the city's power network infrastructure.
Speaking exclusively to ANI on the sidelines of the Tata Power press conference in Mumbai, Dr Kane said, "Our dependency on coal is reducing over a period of time by strengthening renewable power availability from the market." Dr Kane emphasised that a major strategic re-evaluation will take place after 2029 from both a national and a green perspective. While the company plans to maintain local generation capacity to ensure a reliable baseline power supply, it is pivoting heavily toward sustainable alternatives. This transition comes at a critical juncture as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) faces soaring power needs, heavily driven by the rapid growth of data centres. Currently, Tata Power acts as a vital energy provider, delivering a daily current efficiency output of 1,877 MW, which satisfies 25 per cent of Mumbai's total demand. Mumbai's overall daily peak demand touched 4,642 MW this year and is projected to increase by 40 per cent to hit 6,500 MW by 2031. To tackle this, Tata Power-Distribution expects its own network's peak demand to rise to 2,000 MW by FY31. To cleanly bridge this gap, Tata Power is accelerating its green transitions. Dr Kane said that they have secured a 250 MW approval for Hydropower Renewable energy (DRE) alongside a 150 MW solar plant approval. These initiatives will help the company meet the government-mandated 37 per cent green power obligation for transmission while pacing toward an ambitious target of 70% clean energy by 2031. Dr Kane noted that integrating hybrid power and battery storage will allow them to supply green electricity round-the-clock. Addressing intense market competition among Mumbai DISCOMs--including EML, Adani, BEST, and Tata Power--Dr Kane emphasized that retaining market share is a challenge they are tackling head-on. The company is actively combating rivals by offering lower tariffs, superior customer service, and value-added operations, such as safety and maintenance training for customer technicians. During the questions and answers session, Dr Kane also addressed the common consumer concern regarding the disparity in electricity bills. He attributed these differences to varying individual consumption habits, appliance types, and daily usage patterns. To mitigate confusion, Tata Power is deploying strategies to provide deeper consumption data insights to consumers while actively encouraging the use of energy-efficient appliances. Looking ahead, Tata Power has charted an expansive outlook, planning a projected investment of Rs 15,000 crore over the next 5 years dedicated entirely to transmission and distribution upgrades across the MMR. The company is fully prepared to increase its reliance on renewable infrastructure, even if it means importing green power from outside the state to ensure Mumbai remains reliably and sustainably powered. (ANI)
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