JOIN USThe government has taken several decisions, including increasing power generation, reducing transmission and distribution losses, and metering of power to consumers, to provide 24X7 power across the country by 2019.
With an aim of 765.39 billion units and achievement of 793.73 billion, electricity generation by power utilities has exceeded the target for April-December 2014, said the Economic Survey.
In April-December 2014, in the thermal category, growth in generation from coal, lignite and gas-based stations were 14.41 per cent, 9.64 per cent and 3.89 per cent, respectively. The cumulative capacity addition, as on December 31, 2014, was 50,058 MW, which constitutes 56.5 per cent of the 12th-Plan target.
The survey also urges establishment of IT-enabled energy accounting and improvement of collective efficiency to reduce aggregate technical and commercial losses.
A new scheme—the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyothi Yojana (DDUGJY)—has been launched with the objectives of separating agricultural and non-agricultural feeders to facilitate distribution companies.
The existing Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyuthikaran Yojana is subsumed under the DDUGJY.
Under the new scheme, all discoms, including private-sector discoms, are eligible for financial support.
Renewable energy
Country’s renewable energy sector will generate business opportunities worth a whopping Rs 10 lakh crore in the next five years, says the Economic Survey.
India's total renewable power installed capacity, as on December 31, 2014, reached 33,800 MW.
Wind energy continues to dominate the sector, its share accounting for 66 per cent of the installed capacity, followed by biomass, small hydro power and solar power.
The country's National Solar Mission is being scaled up fivefold to 1 lakh MW by 2022.
Some of the country's major immediate plans on renewable energy include scaling up cumulative installed capacity to 1.7 lakh MW and establishing a National University for Renewable Energy, it said.