India power Scenario

India produced 723.794 BU electricity during 2007 – 08, out of this 30-40% of electricity is lost in transmission and distribution (T&D) process. T&D losses have resulted in widening of the demand supply gap and worsening of peak shortages. About Rs 270,000 crore, one third of the total investment of Rs 810,000 crore earmarked for the power sector in the 11th plan, will go down the drain, if immediate and effective steps are not taken to check transmission and distribution losses.

India can overcome the power shortage if T&D losses are reduced by 50 per cent. The losses could be reduced by stoppage of theft and upgradation of T&D system. There was a peak power shortage of 13.8 per cent in fiscal 2006- 07 and the figure is expected to scale up to 14-15 per cent in the next few months. The increasing T&D losses may also act as a major deterrent to private as well as global investments in the sector, which may lead to an under-achievement of the ambitious target of adding 78,000 MW of power generation capacity during the 11th Plan period (2007-2012). The past records show that the country had achieved only 54 per cent, 47 per cent and 43.44 percent of the targeted capacity addition in the eighth, ninth and tenth plan.

Transmission System

The transmission system planning in the country, in the past, had traditionally been linked to generation projects as part of the evacuation system. Ability of the power system to safely withstand a contingency without generation rescheduling or load-shedding was the main criteria for planning the transmission system. However, due to various reasons such as spatial development of load in the network, non-commissioning of load centre generating units originally planned and deficit in reactive compensation, certain pockets in the power system could not safely operate even under normal conditions. This had necessitated backing down of generation and operating at a lower load generation balance in the past. Transmission planning has therefore moved away from the earlier generation evacuation system planning to integrated system planning.
 
While the predominant technology for electricity transmission and distribution has been Alternating Current (AC) technology, High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technology has also been used for interconnection of all regional grids across the country and for bulk transmission of power over long distances. Transmission of electricity is defined as bulk transfer of power over a long distance at a high voltage, generally of 132 KV and above. In India the bulk transmission has increased from 3708 CKM in 1050 to more than 265,000 CKM today. The entire country has been divided into five regions for transmission systems, namely:

• Northern Region
• North Eastern Region
• Eastern Region
• Southern Region
• Western Region

Distribution System

India has 144 million numbers of registered electricity consumers. However, due to lack of adequate investment on T&D works, the T&D losses have been consistently on higher side, and reached to the level of 32.86% in the year 2000-01.The reduction of these losses was essential to bring economic viability to the State Utilities.

As the T&D loss was not able to capture all the losses in the net work, concept of Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) loss was introduced. AT&C loss captures technical as well as commercial losses in the network and is a true indicator of total losses in the system.

The commercial losses are mainly due to low metering efficiency, theft & pilferages. This may be eliminated by improving metering efficiency, proper energy accounting & auditing and improved billing & collection efficiency. Fixing of accountability of the personnel / feeder managers may help considerably in reduction of AT&C loss. With the initiative of the Government of India and of the States, the Accelerated Power Development & Reform Programme (APDRP) was launched in 2001, for the strengthening of Sub Transmission and Distribution network and reduction in AT&C losses.

The main objective is to bring Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) losses below 15% in five years in urban and in high-density areas. This along with other initiatives of the Government of India and of the States, has led to reduction in the overall AT&C loss from 38.86% in 2001-02 to 34.54% in 2005-06. The commercial loss of the State Power Utilities reduced significantly during this period from Rs. 29331 Crore to Rs. 19546 Crore. The loss as percentage of turnover was reduced from 33% in 2000-01 to 16.60% in 2005-06. The APDRP programme is being restructured by the Government of India, so that the desired level of 15% AT&C loss could be achieved by the end of 11th plan.

Generation

As per the Ministry of Power, India’s total installed power capacity stands at India’s total installed power capacity stands at 1,47,402.81 MW. Of this, 93,392 MW is generated from thermal and 36,647.76 MW is from hydro. While power generated from nuclear sources is 4,120 MW, output from renewable energy sources comes to 13,242.41 MW. India’s power generation capacity might have gone up by about 3,500 MW in fiscal 2009, but the capacity addition was dismal as it was over 68% below the target of 11,061 MW set for the period. The total installed power generation capacity in India rose by 3,453.7 MW during April-March 2008-09. This is 68.8% below the capacity addition target for 11,061 MW set for the period.

A more than proportionate increase in power demand vis-à-vis availability resulted in worsening of the average power deficit to 11% during 2008-09.