Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu, IT and Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu and others addressed a media conference on Power Demand and Planning for Telangana in Hyderabad on Saturday (November 29, 2025). | Photo credit: NAGARA GOPAL
The Telangana government is planning a massive capacity expansion in the power sector to complement the vision of having a $3 trillion economy by 2047 by meeting the energy demand of all key productive sectors with half from renewable sources, said Deputy Chief Minister M. Bhatti Vikramarka, who also holds the power portfolio.
Presenting Telangana’s power demand and planning till 2034-35, he said peak power consumption, which was 17,162 megawatts in 2024-25, is estimated to increase to 31,809 MW. To meet the demand growth, the government has planned to add about 6,000 MW of thermal power generation capacity, excluding the soon addition of 2,400 MW from the Yadadri thermal power plant to the 1,600 MW added from the plant this year.
Explaining the need for thermal power generation for grid stability, Mr. Vikramarka said the government had already decided on new power plants at Ramagundam and Palvancha and the setting up of the plants would be decided through global tenders with preference given to NTPC in case the PSU was among the two lowest bidders.
On the proposed site for the power plant project in Makthal, he said there is enough land available, but the type of power plant — be it solar, wind or thermal — is yet to be decided. However, he made it clear that the government was committed to setting up thermal power plants only as mine power plants or near the source of coal mining.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that power demand grew at an average of 14.2% compound annual growth rate (CGAR) from 2014-15 to 2018-19 but declined to 5.44% from 2019-20. After the Congress party returned to power, it improved to 9.85% in 2024–25.
He claimed that the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government had grossly neglected the power sector and had no focus at all on battery energy storage systems and pumped storage systems, both future components of the renewable energy sector. Neighboring states such as Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have already advanced in battery power generation and energy storage with many projects in the pipeline.
However, the Congress government plans to develop a 1,500 MWh battery energy storage system with Viability Gap Funding support from the Power Department. On renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs), the deputy chief minister said they are double-edged as they come with a period of 25 years with the possibility of an annual drop in tariffs in the open market.
Published – 29 Nov 2025 20:34 IST
