7. Electricity

Key IEA data

(2017*)

Total electricity generation: 1 532 TWh, up 86% since 2007

Total installed capacity (2019**): 365 GW, coal (55.8%), hydro (13.7%), wind (10.1%), solar PV (8.8%), natural gas (6.8%), bioenergy and waste (2.7%), nuclear (2%) and oil (0.1%)

Electricity generation mix: coal 74.0%, hydro 9.3%, natural gas 4.6%, wind 3.3%, bioenergy and waste 3.0%, nuclear 2.5%, solar 1.7%, oil 1.6%

Electricity consumption (by sector): 1 164.0 TWh (industry 40.0%, services [including agriculture] 34.0%, residential 24.8%, transport 1.2%), up 98% since 2007 with an average annual growth rate of 7%

*India collects data based on its fiscal year, which runs from 1 April to 31 March. To align with other countries, the IEA data on India in this report are presented as calendar years. So, the statement: “In 2017, electricity consumption (by sectors) was 1164 TWh” refers to the data India has collected (and supplied to the IEA) from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018.

**Installed capacity data as of 30/11/2019, which is sourced from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).Small hydro is grouped together with hydro.

Overview

India is one of the largest electricity market areas in the world, comparable to the power systems of the European Union, the People’s Republic of China (“China”), the Russian Federation (“Russia”) and the United States. The national grid of India is the largest national synchronous grid in the world.

The Government of India (GoI) has focused on keeping up with strong demand growth, while expanding energy access to millions of consumers every year. After years of scarcity, India’s electricity system has now reached surplus power and good adequacy thanks to investment in thermal and renewable capacity, including from the private sector, which accounts for around 50% of the installed power capacity.

The GoI has been working to foster the financial health of the power sector. Long overdue reforms of power distribution companies (DISCOMs) are also taking shape, fostered by the central government Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme to decrease debt ratios. To avoid continuous bail outs of the DISCOMs by India’s governments, the GoI has announced plans to strengthen the UDAY scheme and introduce strict conditionality of government loans to the power sector as part of a new tariff policy. As the renewable energy sector has entered a period of very dynamic development, more efforts

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ENERGY SECURITY

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