Question : Demand of Power

(a) whether the country needs an investment of more than US$ 250 billion in power sector especially renewable energy over the next five years to fulfill the demand of power and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the power supply in the country is in continuous deficit during the last three fiscal years and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the average plant load factor also come down from 64.46 percent in 2014-15 to 48.28 percent upto July 2020 therein; and

(d) the proposal of the Government to balance the demand and supply graph and achieve 100 percent supply growth in power sector?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR POWER, NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY AND THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

( SHRI R.K. SINGH)

(a) : As per the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) Report prepared by Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, the projected capital expenditure in the power sector i.e. in generation, transmission and distribution segments, is Rs. 14,10,428 crore. In addition, the Government has set a target for installing 175 GW of renewable energy capacity in the country by 31st March 2022, against which cumulative renewable energy capacity of 88,793.39 MW has been installed up to 31st August 2020. To achieve the balance target of 86,206.61 MW, an investment of Rs. 4,74,136.35 crore has been estimated.

(b) : No, Sir. There is no deficit of power generation capacity in the country. The installed generation capacity is around 372 GW whereas the peak demand so far has only been about 184 GW.

(c) : The All India Average Plant Load Factor (PLF) of coal and lignite based power generating stations has come down from 64.46% in 2014-15 to 48.32% in 2020-21 (up to July 2020). The low PLF in the current year is primarily due to covid-19. However, with increasing demand of electricity every month since April 2020, the PLF has increased further to 49.01% in August 2020.

(d) : There is no deficit of power.

*************