Energy and Power, Sources of Energy, Rural Electrification, National Power Grid, Power Capacity

Energy & Power

The social and economic development of a country depends on the availability of energy resources in the country. The Government of India has realized the growing need of energy requirement in the country and has started various projects to fulfill the overall demand.

Power development in India started in the mid-nineteenth century. However, the demand for power has been outstripping the supply. Substantial peak and energy shortages prevail in the country. This is due to inadequacies in generation, transmission and distribution as well as theft and inefficient use of electricity.

Sources of Energy

Coal is the main non-renewable source of energy and accounts for about 67% of the country�s commercial needs. It is an important source of energy for steel and carbo-chemical industries. Other non-renewable forms like oil and natural gas are being explored in the country by two national companies like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Limited (OIL).

Biomass, solar energy, wind energy and hydro-power are all essential forms of renewable energy. India ranks fifth in the world in wind power capacity.

Atomic energy is the latest development for fulfilling the growing demand of the society. The Department of Atomic Energy is formed to develop nuclear power technology and application of the radiation technology in the field of agriculture, medicine, industry and basic research.

Rural Electrification

Rural electrification was one of the major concerns for the government in the post independence period. Even after so many years of independence, many households in rural India depend on kerosene for lighting and areas which receive electricity face tremendous shortage of power supply. However this problem has been addressed to a certain extent through the recently enacted Electricity Act of 2003. For the first time in India a private utility is allowed to produce and distribute power. This provides a glimmer of hope especially in rural areas. As a result, small rural private and cooperative power utilities can be empowered to quickly and efficiently supply electricity to areas which are still under darkness. Now after the initiation of the rural electrification program, 5, 06,401 villages out of the total 5, 87,258 villages have been electrified. This is approximately 86.2% of the total villages that receives electricity. The Rural Electricity Supply Technology (REST) mission in the Ministry of Power (MOP) hopes to electrify all villages by 2010. According to MOP officials funds of about Rs. 10-15,000 crores will be made available to the rural power utilities at 2-2.5% p.a. interest rate. These incentives will help attract micro-utilities to come up in rural areas.

For any project to be successful, it is very important that the government works closely with the corporate sector and the NGOs functioning at the grass-root level. While the corporate sector can provide the necessary technological and managerial support, NGOs can create the necessary trust in such utilities among the people and the Government can help in financing rural development programs. A self-reliant and prosperous rural India will help in making India a developed nation.

National Power Grid

The Union Government has established a centrally owned and operated National Power Grid Corporation that has been vested with the responsibility of developing National Grid. The need for a national power grid is manifold. Uneven disposition of energy resources, inconsistency in growth, optimization of investment in generation capacity addition, flexibility of adding generation along the National Grid Conservation of Right-of-Way -- especially in areas with scarcity of ROW like areas near hydro projects, chicken - neck area between Bhutan & Bangladesh, forest area and wild-life sanctuaries.The inter-regional power transfer capacity has been raised to 4350 MW from a mere 500 MW in 1992-93. The power transfer capacity is also planned to be enhanced in a progressive manner up to 30,000 MW by the year 2012.

The first Public-Private joint venture in Indian Power Sector was established with M/s Tata Power, for implementation of Transmission system associated with Tala HEP in Bhutan, East-North inter-connector and Northern Region Transmission System, at an estimated cost of about Rs. 1,611 crore.

This Joint Venture received excellent response from International Funding agencies like IFC, Washington. POWERGRID has also initiated actions for formation of joint ventures for transmission system associated with Koldam and Parbati, HEPs.

In addition to the above, POWERGRID is also in discussions with various Generating Companies/Developers/Investors for setting up Transmission Systems associated with the IPPs. In this regard MOUs have been signed with:

North East Power Transmission Co. (P) Ltd.
ESSAR Power Ltd.
Jaiprakash Hydro Power Ltd.
Torrent Power AEC Ltd.
Countrywide Transmission Ltd.

And various actions for formation of Joint Venture are underway. Further, POWERGRID is also in discussion with Jindal Power Ltd. for formation of a Joint Venture on similar lines.

Power Capacity

The installed power generation capacity in the country has increased from 1,400 MW in 1947 to 1, 18,419.09 MW as on 31st March 2005 comprising 80,902.45 MW thermal, 30935.63 MW hydro, 3811 MW wind and 2,770 MW nuclear.

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