World Trade Organization Organisation Mondiale du Commerce Organización Mundial del Comercio

CHILE

Chile 1:

In Paragraph 40 of the Government's report, India has stated that larger capacity added on a sustained basis would be required to meet growing energy demand, because a deficit in power supply, both in terms of peak availability and total energy availability, can limit the performance of the industrial as well as the agricultural sector. In this sense, considering the high demand and the commitments made in international agreements, it would be interesting to learn how Indian energy grid is settling today and how India expects to build an efficient energy grid for the future and what would be the impact on that grid of thermal power, nuclear power and renewable energies.

Reply: Over the decades a robust inter state and inter regional transmission grid has evolved in India. Transmission infrastructure of the country is very well maintained and modern devices are being installed to improve reliability, grid security and to move towards the creation of a smart grid. By the year 2015 all regions of the country would be synchronously interconnected and would be operating at a common electrical frequency.

Massive expansion of the inter state transmission and intra state transmission system is under way matching with the planned expansion of generation capacity and for transmitting power form the upcoming generation clusters in the country. By March 2012 the total length of transmission lines of 220 kV and above in the country would be of the order of 2,70,000 ckt kms and the substation capacity (220 kV and above) would be of the order of 3,86,000 MVA.

A total of 1,22,801 MW thermal project have already been identified, main plant orders have already been placed for 76,000 MW and all clearances area also in place.  In addition there are plans for retiring inefficient units. There are also plans to renovate and modernize some generating stations in order to reduce emissions and fuel consumption. Special emphasis is being laid on addition of renewable capacity.

The Government of India is encouraging the development of new and renewable energy for supplementing the energy requirements of the country. The objective of the Government is to increase the contribution of renewable energy in the total energy mix of the country to 6% by 2022 with about 10% contribution in total electricity mix. These projects are grid connected projects. The focus is also on development of solar energy technologies. The potential of solar energy is estimated for most parts of the country at around 30 MW–50 MW per sq.k.m.