Huge market for manufacturers of electricity sector in the country: RK Singh

“AT&C losses of discoms down from ~27 percent in 2014 to ~15 percent in 2023; will further go down to ~12 percent”

Union Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister RK Singh has stated that India is the fastest-growing large economy, and that has been possible because of the electricity sector. He was speaking in an inaugural event of three-day exhibition and conference ‘BID 2024’, which stands for ‘BuildELEC, IntelELECT & DistribuELEC-2024’ at Bombay Exhibition Centre at Goregaon, Mumbai.

“Without electricity, there is no industrialisation and the electricity demand is growing in the country. Hence, there is a huge market for manufacturers in the electricity sector,” he added. He further stated that the shares of all power sector companies have gone up. In our country, no bills are pending for gencos (power generation companies). “All the legacy dues have also been almost cleared off”, he said. Stating these, the Power Minister urged to the stakeholders of the electricity sector to lead and grow. Further, there has been a 65 percent increase in the transmission network in the last nine years.

RK Singh further informed that AT&C losses of discoms have gone down from ~27 percent in 2014 to ~15 percent in 2023 and will further go down to ~12 percent. He said, “We are also going in the direction of smart pre-paid meters for all customers.” Speaking about distribution companies, the Union Power Minister said, the present policy has given every distribution licensee a responsibility to tie up different installed capacities to have power adequacy so that they can meet the demand of the areas under them. Their performance related to it is to be assessed by a committee headed by the Chairperson of the Central Electricity Authority and defaulters are liable to be penalised.

“No distribution licensee can shed their responsibility because of the high price at electricity exchange and will be penalised for failing to provide power because of shortage of supply in the licensed area”. The Union Power Minister also said that more capacity is being installed at a great pace so that more Power Producers and Suppliers (PPS) come forward and the general public may get a 24×7 electricity supply. The Union Minister said that the availability of power in rural areas has increased from 12 hours in 2015 to 20.6 hours and in the urban areas it has increased up to 23.8 hours.

RK Singh further said that more renewable energy manufacturing capacity is being installed. He said, “Within a couple of years, the entire value chain of the renewable electricity sector, starting from poly-silicon to photovoltaic modules will be made in India.  The country will also be a leader in green hydrogen.”

Speaking about hydel power, Union Power Minster said that 18000 MW hydel power capacity is presently under construction. He urged the stakeholders to work for hydel power storage and immersible pumps as there is a capacity of 40,000 MW Pumped Storage Projects (PSPs) at various stages of clearance. He also urged that hydel power components should be manufactured in India and not imported.

The Union Power Minister also informed that the peak demand has gone up from 136 MW in 2014 to 243 MW in 2023, thereby registering about 80 percent growth, while installed power generation capacity has gone up by almost 70 percent, from 249 GW to 426 GW in the same timeline.

The Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy also presented certificates of appreciation to the top 7 Startups from the Electraverse Sparks Competition 2024.