New Delhi: All India Statistics of Indian Power Sector are released by Central Electricity Authority (CEA) today. The main highlights are as follows:-

Generation Capacity Addition target during the period 2012-17 from conventional sources was 99,209.47 MW against a target of 88,537 MW, over achieving the same by 112%. Conventional generation capacity addition achieved in the past 3 years (2014-15, 2015-16 & 2016-17) has been 60,752.6 MW, which is about 61 % of the total capacity addition achieved during this period.

In 2015-16, conventional generation capacity addition achieved was 23,976.6 MW which is the largest ever capacity addition in a single year.

The Renewable Energy Sources installed capacity as on 31.03.2014 was 31,692.14 MW. As on 31.03.2017, India has achieved an Installed Capacity of 57,260.2 MW of RES showing an increase of 80% during 2014-2017.

The Peak Demand met increased from 130 GW in 2013-14 to 157 GW in 2016-17, which works out to a CAGR of 6.5 %. Along with this growth in demand, the quantum of "power not supplied during peak" has reduced substantially from 6.1 GW in 2013-14 to only 2.6 GW in 2016-17, a reduction of 57%.

The quantum of energy supplied by the State Distribution Utilities increased from 960 BU in 2013-14 to 1135 BU in 2016-17, showing a CAGR of 5.8 %. This increase is, in-spite of energy conservation and efficiency improvement measures. Without the energy efficiency measures, the growth rate would have been much more. Along with this growth in supply of electricity, the quantum of "energy not supplied" has reduced substantially from 42.4 BU in 2013-14 to 7.6 BU in 2016-17, a reduction of 82%.

The energy actually used by all the consumers including industries, grew at an even higher rate. The gross generation in the country, which reflects the consumption by consumers (other than about 0.2% growth rate of export to Bangladesh and Nepal), increased from 1020 BUs in 2013-14 to 1242 BUs in 2016-17, showing a CAGR of 6.8 percent. The reason that there is a higher growth in gross generation, vis-à-vis energy supplied by State Distribution Utilities, is that many industries are now purchasing power through open access from IPPs without contracts with the States. Therefore, the consumption of these industries has reduced from the State Utilities and increased through open access, which is reflected as generation increase from IPPs without contracts. This growth rate is, in-spite of energy conservation and efficiency improvement measures. Without the energy efficiency measures, the growth rate would have been much more.

Adequate power is available in the country to meet the demand of power of the consumers who are having access to electricity. In 2013-14, the demand-supply gap in terms of Energy and Peak stood at 4.2% and 4.5% respectively. This has now come down to an all-time low of 0.7% and 1.6% respectively in 2016-17. Further, this gap is on account of factors other than inadequacy of power in the country.

About The Author

Chetan Sharma is an Indian fact-checker and news writer, writing news for Ayupp since 2014.

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