Let there be light: A look at India's power situation

The one common thing that binds tasks as diverse as building roads, flying planes, watching television and lighting a streetlight is that they all need electricity.

August 19, 2015 / 15:36 IST

The one common thing that binds tasks as diverse as building roads, flying planes, watching television and lighting a streetlight is that they all need electricity. As modern India sees the emergence of more and more industries and witnesses infrastructure upgrades at a frenetic pace, the country's energy situation assumes monumental importance.Power is imperative to the overall development of a nation. Be it faring well on the healthcare index or ensuring that every child goes to school, availability of electricity is closely linked to these as well as other indicators of progress.Managing energy resources well not only ensures economic progress but also social development.The government's 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-2017) rightly observes, "Electric power is a critical input into all economic activity and rapid and inclusive growth is only possible if reliable electricity is made available everywhere."Power scenario in IndiaWhile we are no doubt experiencing growth and industrialization, fact remains that on the power front all is not well. Census 2011 shows that nearly one-third of India has no access to electricity and just over half of rural India uses electricity as a main source of lighting. While the situation in urban areas is better, power cuts and load shedding are becoming a frequent occurrence.In fact, in July last year, north India experienced a never-before seen massive blackout for two consecutive days that left nearly 600 million people powerless and helpless. People were stuck at their homes and offices, transport systems were stalled and private and public establishments remained non-functional through the period of the blackout. It not only caused physical inconvenience but monetary losses too.On July 30, when the first blackout happened, the Northern power grid had collapsed. However, things worsened on July 31, with the Northern, Eastern and Northeastern grids collapsing. Reports say that the grids collapsed as some states were indulging in overdrawing of power.Apart from earning the distinction of being one of the most massive blackouts in the world, this incident, ironically, threw light on India's power woes. What followed were clarion calls for reforms in the power sector.The root of India's power problems lies in the increasing gap between demand and supply. According to a Central Electricity Authority report, in the year 2012-13, the country faced peak power deficit of over 12,000 mega watts (MW). Data showed that peak power demand stood at 1,35,453 MW as against production of 1,23,294 MW.In the coming years, this deficit will only widen if power generation isn't ramped up.Coal -- India's dominant fuelAs far as electricity generation is concerned, there is huge dependence on coal in India as most power is thermally generated. As a result, shortage in supply of coal has a direct impact on power generation. Ministry of Power's website shows that as of June 2013, our total installed capacity was 225.79 Gigawatts. Of this, 68% was thermal power created using coal, oil and gas. The rest was contributed by hydropower, nuclear power and power obtained from renewable energy sources. This shows that coal is central to India's power generation.According to the Coal Ministry website, production of coal has risen from 70 million tonnes at the time of nationalization of coal mines in early 1970's to nearly 557.66 million tonnes in 2012-13. The 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-2017) stresses that it is essential to ramp up coal production to 795 million tones by 2016-17. However, Coal India foresees a 20% coal shortage in the next five years. A report quotes Coal India chairman Narsing Rao as saying, "By no means our domestic production is going to be beyond 795-800 million tonne (mt) by the end of the current Five Year Plan. Considering that the domestic demand for coal is expected to be at 1 billion tonne by end of that period, the shortage would be in the region of 200 mt."Considering how dependent our economy is on coal to meet its energy demands, the commodity needs to be managed effectively. Also, in order to offset the mounting pressure on coal-based electricity, we need to focus more on hydropower and power derived from renewable sources.Electricity is imperative to the overall progress of any nation and for years now, GE, with its range of turbines, has been facilitating India's growth by helping the country meet its growing power demands.References:

http://www.devinfo.org/indiacensus2011/libraries/aspx/home.aspx

http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/Whathappensif/entry/how-and-why-the-indian-power-grid-collapsed

http://www.cea.nic.in/reports/yearly/lgbr_report.pdf

http://www.powermin.nic.in/index.htm

http://www.coal.nic.in/welcome.html