The Minister of State for Power, Shripad Naik, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha gave an update on the power supply situation in India. He shared that the Indian government has launched schemes including Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (SAUBHAGYA) to support states in achieving the objective of providing uninterrupted power supply to all households. To this end, projects worth Rs 1.85 trillion were executed for strengthening the distribution system across states which includes works like setting up of new or upgradation of substations and HT & LT lines, agricultural feeder segregation, aerial bunched cable and underground cabling. A total of 18,374 villages were electrified under DDUGJY and 28.6 million households were electrified during SAUBHAGYA.
Further, government of India launched Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) with the objective of improving the quality and reliability of power supply to consumers through a financially sustainable and operationally efficient distribution sector. The scheme has an outlay of Rs 3,037.58 billion with a budget of Rs 976.31 billion over a period of five years from 2021-22 to 2025-26. Projects worth Rs 2.62 trillion for distribution infrastructure works and smart metering works have been sanctioned under the scheme.
In addition to above, the government has taken following initiatives to achieve uninterrupted power supply across the country:
- In the last ten years, 214,237 MW of generation capacity were added. From March 2014 (248,554 MW) to June 2024 (446,190 MW) generation capacity increased by 79.5 per cent.
- Since April 2014, 195,181 ckt km of transmission lines was added connecting the whole country into one grid running on one frequency. This has enabled the grid integration of 118,740 MW of capacity.
The minister also shared the generation capacity addition (under construction and identified) by 2032:
- Thermal capacity of minimum 80,000 MW
- Hydro capacity of 25,010 MW
- Nuclear capacity of 14,300 MW
- Pump Storage Plants (PSP) capacity of 50,760 MW
- Small hydro capacity of 510 MW
- Solar power capacity of 143,980 MW
- Wind power capacity of 23,340 MW
Thus, total anticipated capacity addition by 2032 is 337,900 MW.
