The growth of the energy sector is unparalleled

In the past eight years, this government, under Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, has brought about a total transformation of the power sector. But how is this being effected?

In 2014, the total installed power generation capacity was 248,554 megawatts (MW) and load-shedding was a regular feature. In eight years, we added 169,110 MW of generation capacity. We now have a total power generation capacity of 400 gigawatts (GWs), while the maximum demand to date has been 215 GWs.

We have added 166,080 circuit kilometres (c-km) of transmission lines and integrated the country into a single electric grid running on one frequency. The Indian grid has emerged as the world’s largest integrated grid. The interregional transfer capacity in 2014 was 37,950 MW, which has been increased to 112,250 MWs. Our transmission lines deploy some of the most cutting-edge technologies, located at challenging altitudes.

Before 2014, more than 18,000 villages and hundreds of thousands of hamlets were not electrified. On August 15, 2015, at Red Fort, PM Modi announced the target of electrifying every village in 1,000 days. This was a challenge as hundreds of villages were located in the high hills of the Himalayan belt and others in the deserts of Rajasthan, where even poles, conductors, and transformers had to be carried across on ponies and in helicopters. We achieved this in 987 days. The International Energy Agency (IEA) called this the biggest development in energy in 2018.

The PM then set a target of connecting every home with electricity. We did this in 18 months. A total of 28.6 million homes were electrified. This was the largest expansion of access in such a short time in the history of the energy sector, according to IEA. Every willing household was connected. We also asked the states to ensure that all homes, in existence on or before the launch of Saubhagya (universal access scheme), should be connected. We have also strengthened the distribution systems on an unprecedented scale. We implemented schemes in all states at the cost of ₹201,722 crore. We added 2,921 new sub-stations, upgraded 3,926 existing sub-stations, added or replaced 604,465 c-km of low-tension lines and 268,838 km of 11 KVA high-tension lines, constructed separate agriculture feeders of 122,123 circuit km, and installed 731,961 transformers. The result? The average availability of power has increased to 22.5 hours and 23.5 hours in rural and urban areas. respectively.

Our government cares about the environment. In 2015, PM Modi announced a target of installing 175 GW of renewable energy (RE) capacity by 2022. Despite two years of Covid-19 and its induced lockdown, we have established an RE capacity of 158 GWs, with 54 GW under installation. We have emerged as a country with the fastest-growing RE capacity. We have also been rated the most attractive destination for investment in RE in the world. Every major fund in the world is invested in our green energy programme. At the Conference of the Parties-21 (COP-21), we pledged that by 2030, 40% of our power generation capacity will come from renewables. We achieved this target in November 2021.

Now, we want to put a roof on every home and solarise every irrigation pump. We also pledged at COP-21 that by 2030, we will reduce emissions intensity by 33%-35% as compared to 2005 levels. Today, we are nearing a reduction of 30%. Our Ujala programme — the world’s largest LED programme — has resulted in the reduction of CO2 emissions of 106 million tonnes per annum.

We have programmes to enhance energy efficiency and reduce emissions in industry. The programme suggests that increased energy efficiency will lead to a reduction in emissions. This has resulted in a reduction of 103 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum. We have an energy efficiency programme for appliances called the stars rating programme, which has resulted in a reduction of CO2 emissions by 53 million tonnes per annum. We have put in place a programme for energy efficiency for commercial and residential buildings. As a result, we are the only G20 nation whose energy transition actions are consistent with the rise in global temperatures.

As we achieved our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), we increased our targets at COP-26, taking the pledge to install 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030. We also pledged to reduce our CO2 emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030.

The government has brought comprehensive reforms in the sector. It has made the provision of a letter of credit compulsory for the flow of power and brought down the late payment surcharge from 18% to 12%. For the first time, we have laid down rules spelling out the rights for consumers and simplified the process of recovery of costs. We have also separated the central transmission utility from the power grid to bring transparency.

The rules for connectivity to the transmission network have been simplified by putting in place General Network Access Rules. We have expanded the market, and put in place separate “Term-Ahead-Market” and “Day-Ahead-Market” for RE. We have provided for the bundling of RE with thermal energy and biomass cofiring in thermal power plants. We also provided for generating companies to be able to sell power.

To ensure the viability of the system and bring in financial discipline, the government has made fund flows and grant loans from the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) conditional on their undertaking reforms. As a result, 36 distribution companies (discoms) have agreed to timelines for the reduction of Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses and average cost of supply and the average revenue realised (ACS-ARR) gap as well as clearance of subsidy and government dues. Corporate reforms are being put in place in discoms. We have also put in place a rating system for discoms.

The scale of reforms is unparalleled. Before this, no government touched distribution sector reforms. In line with the vision of PM Modi, we are working towards a brighter India, with the mission of “power to the future of the nation”.

RK Singh is Union minister for power and new and renewable energy

The views expressed are personal