ANNOUNCEMENTS
The power sector in India has witnessed phenomenal growth in generation and consumption over the last decade to reach an installed capacity of ~370.1 gigawatt (GW) as on 31st March 2020 (CEA, 2020) with the peak demand touching a new high of 183 GW in May 2019 (POSOCO, 2019). The annual generation (conventional and renewable sources) was1,375 Trillion-Watt hours (TWh) for FY 2018-19 and projected as1,468 TWh for FY 2019-20 (Central Electricity Authority, 2020).
The overall RE target of 175 GW hinges on achieving the wind capacity up to 60 GW and that for solar up to 100 GW by December 2022. According to CEA Annual Generation Report in 2019, the total solar power generation in FY 2018-19 was 39 TWh and that for the wind was 62 TWh, i.e., the total variable renewable energy (VRE) generation is 102TWh or around 7.5% of total generation. Although, this has happened over a short period of time driven by 175 GW RE policy and substantial effort from the private sector. The onus remains on the substantial development of the transmission sector to evacuate the power in a reliable manner while addressing the transformational needs of the sector.
This note provides a quick background of the Indian Transmission Sector, its present status, existing and future infrastructure requirement, fund requirements, overall planning process for capacity addition, utilization of existing assets, etc. This also gives a brief snapshot of some of the other aspects such as private sector participation in the sector, broad regulation and legal framework and reference to some international experiences which could pave way for the improvement of the present system.
Keywords: Power transmission, Infrastructure development, Network Planning, Renewable energy, Private sector participation
