In a recently organised Regional Conference for the Northern Region States and UTs, the Union Power Minister, Manohar Lal mentioned that India’s power system has evolved into a unified national grid, fulfilling the vision of ‘One Nation-One Grid’ and underlined the importance of a future-ready, modern, and financially viable power sector to fuel the country’s growth.
Lal highlighted that we successfully met a peak demand of 250 GW in May 2024 – and India has transformed from power-deficit to a power-sufficient nation – and as on today, peak demand shortage is zero. He outlined the importance of continuous cooperation and coordination between Central and the State Governments in achieving the goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047.
The Power Minister laid emphasis on ensuring resource adequacy and necessary power generation capacity tie-ups. States should, while meeting their resource adequacy plan, also work on having adequate power generation mix including addition of nuclear generation capacity. India’s peak electricity demand is projected to reach 446 GW by 2034–35 and meeting this sustainably requires proactive planning and continued coordination between the centre, states, and stakeholders.
He mentioned the states should work towards resolving the issues faced in development of Intra-State transmission projects, including RoW issues. They (states) should explore diverse options for financing including from multilateral institutions. Lal reminded about the allocation of `1.5 lakh crore in 50-year interest-free loans in the Union Budget 2025-26 – that have been done to support states’ capital expenditures. This allocation can greatly strengthen the transmission infrastructure.
The minister remarked that states should promote renewable energy coupled with storage solutions – so as to ensure reliability of supply of power. He mentioned India is moving towards having increased share of renewable energy in total installed capacity – and the same has increased from 32% in 2014 to 49% in April 2025. He advised States for implementation of Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) Guidelines and urged them to form dedicated teams for these critical planning.
