ENERGY USES IN INDIA: A CASE OF ELECTRICITY (original) (raw)

The global economy is set to grow four-fold between now and 2050 and growth could approach ten-fold in developing countries such as India and China. This promises economic benefits and huge improvements in people’s standard of living, but it implies a much greater use of energy. Indian electricity supply and demand is projected to increase four to five-fold between now and 2050 (IEA-2008). This development requires massive investments, but it also creates unique opportunities to dramatically change the CO2 intensity of Indian electricity supply. However, the expansion of the power sector in India faces many barriers such as a spatially uneven distribution of natural resources, financial constraints and high system losses. Accelerated development of natural resources and more transmission and distribution (T&D) capacity are needed in order to overcome the current problems. Increased competition, additional equipment supply capacity and other actions to increase the private sector interest can help to accelerate investments (Dolf Gielen et al, 2009). Hence, Government of India is giving the highest priority to the development of power sector. Initiatives are being taken to bring about comprehensive reforms in the power sector to facilitate and attract investments and bring about improvements in the efficiency of delivery systems. Energy demand, in particular electricity production has resulted in creation of fossil fuel based power plants that let out substantial green house gas, carbon emission into the atmosphere causing climate change and global warming. Further, shortages and constraints in availability of fossil fuels, also necessitates concentrating on the renewable energy in order to bring down the gap between demand and supply. The energy sector is merging as a vital sector in the Indian economy and in the next few years is likely to see a significant growth in power generation capacity in the country. This is likely to happen through a combination of Public Private Partnerships, private sector investments as well as through Government investment in the Public Sector. The growth would be across a wide spectrum of technologies, with significant capacity addition expected in both hydro as well as coal based thermal sectors. With the civil nuclear co-operation deal a reality, there would be capacity additions in the nuclear energy sector. New initiatives on gas based power plants are expected. Most importantly, new and renewable energy, including wind power, bio-mass and solar power would play an important part. As a result, the power scenario in different states is likely to change significantly. This study attempts to look at the power crisis situation in southern region states in India, and demand supply gap to look at alternative opportunities, policies and strategies.