Demand side management in India: Opportunities and challenges

Conference · Sun Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1997

OSTI ID:478217

Nezhad, H G; Mehta, J V

India`s electricity demand has been growing by more than 8% per year over the last decade. However, despite the fact that more than 70% of its 130 million households do not have access to electricity, demand for electricity has outstripped supply resulting in frequent blackouts and routine brownouts. India`s per capita consumption of electricity is about 240 KWh compared to about 500 KWh in other developing countries and 7,000 KWh in developed nations. According to the Fifteenth Power Survey by Indian Ministry of Energy, per capita energy consumption is projected to grow at about 5.5% per year until 2020, when India`s population is projected to reach 1.2 billion people. Based on these projections, India will need a generating capacity of 450,000 MW in 2020, compared to the current capacity of about 80,000 MW. Considering rising costs, limited fuel supply, and shortages of capital for power plant construction, it is unlikely that projected capacity will be realized. The only viable option would be to utilize available power through intensive energy efficiency improvements and load management.

• OSTI ID: 478217
• Report Number(s): CONF-961173--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ENERGY MANAGEMENT
INDIA
POWER DEMAND