India Electricity Show 2008
India: Powering self-sufficiency
Thomex.com
An unprecedented increase in the demand of power in India, which is projected to continue for years to come, has created a huge business opportunity for new investment in power generation, transmission and distribution. It is expected that India would need an additional 161 GW of generation capacity during the 11th and 12th Plans.
It was keeping this scenario in perspective that a three-day seminar on 'India Power Sector - Holistic Capacity Building' was organised here in New Delhi in the sideline of India Electricity 2008. The exhibition is being organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Ministry of Power, Govt. of India.
Inaugurating the 3rd International exhibition & Conference on Power Sector, Sushilkumar Shinde, Minister of Power urged the investors and participants to play a positive role in transforming India from power deficit to power surplus nation.
It is to be noted that the Govt. has taken special initiative to increase inter-regional transmission capacity of 371 GW by the end of 2012 from the current 155 GW through the creation of transmission super highways.
Under the Rural Electrification programme, the Govt plans to develop franchises in 250,000 villages and set up 1,000 Distributed Generation schemes (grid interconnected) during the 11th Plan.
The conference, which was attended by large number of companies from power generation and transmission sector, witnessed a global participation. A special session on regulation, covering both Indian and foreign experience; a round table session on power generation project and the future opportunities in equipment manufacturing was also organised to discuss the emerging scenario.
Speaking on the occasion, Hemant Joshi, MD, CRISIL Risk & Infrastructure Solution highlighted the need of energy saving devices. He said that most of the domestic appliances including refrigeration, air conditioning and lighting systems used in Indian homes need to adopt energy-saving measures thereby cutting on the national power losses.
"Electricity constitutes a critical input of all major economic activities. It is evident that with a continued peak demand deficit of 12-13% and energy shortage of 6-8%, India would not be able to achieve such high levels of economic growth. 'Electricity for all' is not only an economic imperative, but also a social obligation," Joshi pointed out.
Power distribution was another key area highlighted by speakers at the conference. It is expected that distribution will witness high investments aided by govt grants and soft loans. The projected investment in distribution for the 11th Plan as per Central Electricity Authority (CEA) is approximately US$66 billion.
Comparing the carbon dioxide emission from coal-fired power stations, Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director, International Energy Agency, said that the issue is going to assume paramount importance in the coming decades as power requirement goes up around the globe in coming decades.
Pointing the fact that India stands at a very heavy investment curve, Tanaka called upon to develop a framework for global investment and implement competitive framework for cost reflective price signals.
Dr Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI hoped that Indo-US nuclear deal will change the face of India's energy need. "India has the largest deposit of thorium in the world, amounting to 34% of the reserve. This will give India a commanding position in tapping the rare natural resource for its energy requirement," Mitra said.
Anil Razdan, secretary, Ministry of Power, informed that under the new agreements with the major companies, top firms are coming to India to manufacture power generation equipments. He said that setting up additional power plants in coming years would generate employment for more than two million people in various sectors of power.
Razdan said that power generation and distribution is no longer a state-controlled enterprise and exhorted world leaders to come forward and be a stakeholder in India's power industry. He said that India needs clean technology and whoever provides it will be part of India's booming power industry.
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