The Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy R. K. Singh recently held an interaction with stakeholders in the power sector in New Delhi – to review thermal power capacity addition and facilitate the industry to overcome any problems being faced by them. Officers of the MoP, state governments, CEA, Public Sector Enterprises under the Ministry such as NTPC, REC, PFC, as well as other PSUs such as BHEL, and industry participants including IPPs and vendors joined the meeting.
Addressing the PSUs and industry, the minister informed everyone about the government’s decision to add 80 GW thermal power capacity by the year 2031-32, and why this is crucial for meeting the nation’s power requirements.
Detailing on the current scenario leading to such a decision, he said, “Power demand of the country has increased at an unprecedented rate due to rapid growth of the economy. India needs 24×7 availability of power for its economic growth; and we are not going to compromise on availability of power for our growth. This power cannot be achieved by renewable energy sources alone. Since nuclear capacity cannot be added at a rapid pace, we have to add coal-based thermal capacity for meeting our energy needs. We have 27 GW under construction, and we had thought that we will add another 25 GW. But we have decided that we will start work on at least 55 GW – 60 GW of thermal capacity. As demand keeps accelerating, we will keep adding this capacity.”
