Over the past nine years, an impressive 193 gigawatts (GW) of electricity generation capacity have been added in India, as revealed by the Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy. This period of growth has seen a remarkable transformation in India’s power sector, shifting the nation from a state of power deficit to one of power surplus.
Between 2014-15 and 2023-24 (October 2023), India witnessed the addition of 97,512.6 megawatts (MW) in the conventional power sector and 96,282.9 MW in renewable energy capacity. This substantial increase has boosted the total generation capacity by a staggering 70 percent, from 2,48,554 MW in March 2014 to 4,25,536 MW in October 2023.
The annual capacity increments in the conventional sector from 2014-15 to 2023-24 (up to October 2023) is listed below.
Additionally, India has made significant strides in strengthening its power infrastructure. Over the past nine years, an extensive 187,849 circuit kilometers (ckt km) of transmission lines have been added, effectively connecting the entire nation into a unified grid operating at a single frequency. This achievement has empowered the sector to transmit 116,540 MW of electricity across the country. Furthermore, the distribution system has been fortified through the construction of 2,927 sub-stations, the upgrade of 3,964 sub-stations, and the addition of 8.86 lakh ckt. km. of high-tension/low-tension (HT/LT) lines.
The sustained growth in electricity demand can be attributed primarily to two key factors: India’s robust economic growth in recent years and the provisioning of new electricity connections to approximately 2.86 crore households.
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) periodically conducts Electric Power Surveys (EPS) every five years to forecast the country’s electricity demand on a medium and long-term basis. According to the latest survey, it is anticipated that electricity demand will surge to 3,66,393 MW by 2031-32. The projected annual growth in power demand is outlined below.
