INDIA'S SURGING POWER DEMAND INDICATIVE OF ECONOMIC GROWTH

Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable R.K. Singh discusses the government’s preparation to address the all-time high power demand this summer and the country’s energy transition drive in this interview with Arjun Yadav

- Arjun Yadav

Given the onset of early summer, how well is the power infrastructure in India prepared to handle the power demand? What is the peak demand expected?

We are very well prepared and have taken steps to ensure no disruptions in the power supply. We have instructed every state that we do not want any load shedding. We expect the demand to increase to almost 230 gigawatts (GW). This will be a record for our country.

In the past, our peak demand was at 215 GW, so we need to be ready for an additional 15,000 megawatts (MW). I see this as good news because it is an indicator of our growing economy. For all the critics, the surest indicator of economic growth is the power demand, which this year has gone up by 10.5 per cent.

Please tell us more about the steps that the government has taken to remove logistical constraints in coal supply to ensure availability at power plants.

There have been several logistical constraints in coal supply but this is because the demand was not expected to spiral this high, this quickly. Earlier, coal used to come from the coal fields of Central Coalfields on the northern side of Odisha. Now, much of it is coming from the southern side of the Talcher area. The network was limited but the railways are expanding it. They are buying more rakes as well to address logistical constraints.