Bharat Engineering Power Infrastructure in India

• Power is among the most critical component of infrastructure, crucial for the economic growth and welfare of nations.
• The existence and development of adequate infrastructure is essential for sustained growth of the Indian economy.
• India’s power sector is one of the most diversified in the world.
• Sources of power generation range from conventional sources such as coal, lignite, natural gas, oil, hydro and nuclear power to viable non-conventional sources such as wind, solar, and agricultural and domestic waste.
• In 2022, India ranked fourth in the Asia Pacific region out of 25 nations on an index that measured their overall power.

Growth

• Indian power sector is undergoing a significant change that has redefined the industry outlook.
• Sustained economic growth continues to drive electricity demand in India.
• The Government of India’s focus on attaining ‘Power for all’ has accelerated capacity addition in the country.
• By 2022, solar energy is estimated to contribute 114 GW, followed by 67 GW from wind power and 15 GW from biomass and hydropower.
• The target for renewable energy has been increased to 227 GW by 2022.

Issues related to power sector in India, include:

• Shortage of fuel
• High AT&C losses
• Differential tariff structure
• Delays in tariff revisions
• Low utilization of generation capacity due to:
• Shortage of fuel, especially coal
• Unviable Power Purchase Agreements

Major initiatives to boost Bharat Engineering Power Infrastructure in India:

• Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India owned Gas lined up Rs 5,000 crore (US$ 671.14 million) for setting up two plants each for producing ethanol and compressed biogas (CBG) from municipal waste.
• In 2021, the Ministry of Power (MoP) released the draft National Electricity Policy (NEP) 2021. The MoP has created an expert committee including members from state governments, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), NITI Aayog and the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).
• In 2020, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power and Department of New & Renewable Energy (DNRE), Goa, signed a memorandum of understanding to discuss roll-out of India’s first Convergence Project in the state.
• In 2020, the government announced a plan to set up an inter-ministerial committee under NITI Aayog to forefront research and study on energy modelling.
• This, along with a steering committee, will serve the India Energy Modelling Forum (IEMF) jointly launched by NITI Aayog and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
• The Government of India has allocated Rs. 111 lakh crore (US$ 1.4 trillion) under the National Infrastructure Pipeline for FY 2020-21. The energy sector is likely to account for 24% capital expenditure over FY 2021-22.
• Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana-Saubhagya was launched by Government of India with an aim to achieve universal household electrification by March 2021.
• Ujwal Discoms Assurance Yojana (UDAY) was launched by the Government to encourage operational and financial turnaround of State-owned Power Distribution Companies (DISCOMS) with an aim to reduce Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) losses to 15% by FY21.