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Over view
Power Development
 Although
electric power generation in India on a commercial basis
is almost a century old, substantial power development
efforts began only after independence. Since independence,
India has seen a phenomenal growth in installed capacity
and electricity generation (mainly thermal, hydel and
nuclear). The First Five-Year plan recognised power
generation as a major requirement for the country's
economic development. It was thus accorded high priority.
Since then power sector outlays have been given the
highest priority in the successive Five-Year Plans as
well. The focus of the first two Plans was on hydropower,
later, in the subsequent plans, it shifted to thermal
power generation.
As a result of the efforts, India's power generation
capacity grew to 16,664 MW in 1974. However, the government
soon realised that with the uneven distribution of resources,
power development with only States as spatial units,
would result in large inter-state imbalances. This led
the Government of India to assume a leading role in
large-scale power generation as a matter of policy.
Soon the Electricity (Supply) Act was amended and the
National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd. (NTPC) and National
Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd. (NHPC) were set
up in the central sector to supplement the efforts of
the States.
With this the total installed capacity of power utilities
had increased from 1,362 MW in 1947 to 101153.6 MW in
March, 2001. Electricity generation, which was only
about 4.1 billion Kwh in 1947, has risen to 499 billion
Kwh in 2000-01.
 Most
of this installed capacity is under government control.
The state governments control nearly 60% of the power
generating capacity. Currently, the central government
owns about 30% of the power generating capacity in the
country, the majority of which is in the thermal sector.
Nuclear stations under the Central Government-owned
Nuclear Power Corporation account for 2 per cent of
installed generating capacity, and four private distributors
own the remaining 4 per cent.
However, it is very unfortunate that in spite of the
massive growth in generation capacity, severe power
shortages persist throughout India. Energy deficiency
is approximately 11 per cent and goes up to 18 per cent
during peak hours. This clearly shows that the capacity
addition has fallen far short of consumption growth.
 Due
to massive industrialisation and increase in population,
per capita consumption has grown from 15.6 Kwh in 1950
to 314 Kwh currently. Consequently, the gap between
demand and supply has widened over the last five years
and is expected to increase in the coming years as well.
According to the 15th Electrical Power Survey conducted
by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), demand is
expected to rise at a rate of 7.5 per cent per annum
over the next decade.
Over the next 10 years, the minimum capacity addition
needed is estimated to be over 83,000 MW. This calls
for an investment of around US$143 billion. Beyond any
doubt a majority of this amount will have to be funded
by the private sector, both domestic and foreign.
Source:
www.nic.in
www.ntpc.co.in
Picture Courtesy: Swagat, August 2001
- Shravanti Choudhuri
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