Energy Scenario and Vision 2020 in India

Abstract

India is a country with more than 1.2 billion people accounting for more than 17% of world’s population. It is the seventh largest country in the world with total land area of 3,287,263 sq kilometers. India measures 3214 km from north to south and 2993 km from east to west. It has a land frontier of 15,200 km and coastline of 7,517 km. India has 28 states and 7 union territories. It faces a formidable challenge in providing adequate energy supplies to users at a reasonable cost. It is anticipated that India’s nominal GDP will exceed US $ 2 trillion by March 2012. India’s nominal GDP crossed the US $ 1 trillion mark in 2007-2008 which means that the annual growth rate of nominal GDP during the period is stupendous 18 percent. Thus the energy challenge is of fundamental importance. In the last six decades, India’s energy use has increased 16 times and the installed electricity capacity by 84 times. In 2008, India’s energy use was the fifth highest in the world.
Nevertheless, India as a country suffers from significant energy poverty and pervasive electricity deficits. In recent years, India’s energy consumption has been increasing at a relatively fast rate due to population growth and economic development, even though the base rate may be somewhat low. With an economy projected to grow at 8-9% per annum, rapid urbanization and improving standards of living for millions of Indian households, the demand is likely to grow significantly. As per the estimates made in the Integrated Energy Policy Report of Planning Commission of India, 2006, if the country is to progress on the path of this sustained GDP growth rate during the next 25 years, it would imply quadrupling of its energy needs over 2003-04 levels with a six-fold increase in the requirement of electricity and a quadrupling in the requirement of crude oil. The supply challenge is of such magnitude that there are reasonable apprehensions that severe shortages may occur.