Energy sector sees $250-bn business opportunity: Goyal

Promising to augment coal production to 1 billion tonne by 2019, Union Minister for Coal and Power Piyush Goyal on Thursday said the government hopes to attract $  250 billion investment within 4-5 years in energy sector.

Participating in the India Economic Summit organised by the World Economic Forum and industry chamber CII, the Minister said the investments, totalling $ 250 billion for power generation, coal mining as well as electricity distribution and transmission sectors, would help the government hike power generation and ensure electricity supplies to all households in the country by 2019.

India’s total power consumption would double to 2 trillion units by 2019 and the majority of investments would come from the private sector although the government would also invest more.

The government is also pushing ahead with ambitious plans for the renewable sector, especially solar energy, where the generation capacity is to be increased to 1,00,000 MW by 2022, he added.

To meet the increasing electricity generation requirements, Goyal said, Coal India is expected to double its production to around one billion tonnes by 2019. About 53 million homes in the country are yet to get electricity and many industries depend on diesel generation sets to meet their requirements. All households are expected to have electricity access by 2019, he said.

In the renewable space, the government expects to nearly double the installed wind generation capacity to more than 40,000 MW by 2019, he said, adding that the government is pursuing the strategy of improving the utilisation of existing assets and freeing up stranded assets.

India has an installed power generation capacity of over 2,50,000 MW but many plants are facing fuel supply problems resulting in lower production.

Striking a cautious note, Goyal said the government is looking at all options on nuclear energy but does not want to get saddled with "something" that has been discarded by the West. He also said the Centre is trying to address issues with regard to civil nuclear liability issues.

In August, the government had said that it was addressing the concerns raised by domestic suppliers over certain provisions of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CLND) Act, 2010 and was working out a scheme to obtain appropriate insurance cover from domestic insurers. Sounding cautious, Goyal said that the United States and many European nations have discontinued setting up of nuclear plants.