Establishment of 5 new zones to ensure transparent administrative efficiency and quick service delivery in Tamil Nadu's Renewable Energy sector, expedite projects and further strengthen the State's green energy growth. Information from Hon'ble Minister for Energy, Resources and Law, Thiru C.D.R. Nirmal Kumar In line with the directive of Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Thiru C. Joseph Vijay, and with a view to realising the Government's high objective of providing clean, honest, innovative and people-friendly governance, the Tamil Nadu Green Energy Corporation Limited (TNGECL) has been undertaking key administrative reforms to improve the administrative efficiency of the renewable energy sector and to provide fast, transparent and simplified services to investors and the public. As part of this, with a view to further expediting the operations of wind and solar power projects, it was decided to discontinue and restructure the administrative set-up of the existing Udumalpet and Tirunelveli Non-Conventional Energy Sources (NCES) circle offices. Accordingly, five renewable energy zones have been created across the State, headquartered at Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Coimbatore and Madurai, and administrative approval has been granted to integrate and expedite the operations of wind and solar power projects in a manner that further strengthens the Government's green energy targets. The wind and solar power projects in the Chennai, Kanchipuram, Vellore and Tiruvannamalai electricity distribution circles under the Chennai zone; the Tiruchirappalli, Villupuram and Thanjavur distribution circles under the Tiruchirappalli zone; the Tirunelveli distribution circle under the Tirunelveli zone; the Coimbatore distribution circle under the Coimbatore zone; and the Karur, Erode and Madurai distribution circles under the Madurai zone have been reorganised to integrate their operations, and the administration, monitoring and implementation of renewable energy projects will henceforth be undertaken under the charge of Assistant Executive Engineers. Additional responsibilities for dedicated project implementation and monitoring to strengthen the energy project activities of the above 5 energy zones have also been created at the Chennai Electricity Board head office. Through this restructuring, administrative work will be further expedited, and tasks such as granting approvals for new renewable energy projects, repowering, technical review, coordinating infrastructure required for power evacuation, project monitoring, and providing transparent single-window services to investors will be carried out with greater efficiency. Further, a task force may be deployed to implement schemes such as the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), PM-KUSUM 2.0, the PM Rooftop Solar scheme, model solar villages, installation of solar facilities on government buildings, and upcoming floating solar projects. Through this administrative restructuring, as an added benefit to the public and investors, the time taken to grant approvals for wind and solar power projects will be reduced, project activities will be expedited, and green power generation capacity will further increase through the provision of integrated services to investors and power producers. As the Government of Tamil Nadu works towards the goal of substantially increasing renewable energy generation by the year 2030, this administrative restructuring will serve as an important step forward towards that objective. Issued By: Director, DIPR, Chennai-9