This is significant in light of India's goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2070 and having 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030
According to the National Electricity Plan (NEP) released by the power ministry on Wednesday, India's non-fossil fuel-based power generation capacity is expected to rise to 68.4 percent of total installed capacity in 2031-32, up from 42.5 percent now.
This is significant in light of India's goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2070 and having 500GW of renewable energy by 2030.
According to a power ministry statement, the NEP expects non-fossil-based capacity to expand to 57.4 percent by the end of 2026-27 and to 68.4 percent by the end of 2031-32, up from roughly 42.5 percent in April 2023.
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has notified the National Electricity Plan (NEP) (Vol-I Generation) for the period 2022-32, according to the announcement.
The plan document, which was released by e-Gazette today (Wednesday), comprises a review of the previous five years (2017-22), a detailed plan for the following five years (2022-27), and a prospective plan for the next five years (2027-32).
According to the NEP document, the predicted All India peak electricity demand and electrical energy requirement for the year 2026-27 are 277.2 GW and 1907.8 BU (billion units), and 366.4 GW and 2473.8 BU for the year 2031-32, based on 20th Electric Power Survey (EPS) Demand forecasts.
The Energy Requirement & Peak Demand are inclusive of the impact due to increased adoption of Electric Vehicles, Installation of Solar rooftops, Production of Green hydrogen, Saubhagya scheme etc, it stated.
Based on generation planning studies carried out under the purview of preparation of NEP for the period of 2022-27, the likely Installed generation Capacity for the year 2026-27 is 609,591 MW.
The domestic coal requirement has been estimated to be 866.4 Million Tonnes for the year 2026-27 and 1025.8 Million Tonnes for the year 2031-32 and an estimated requirement of 28.9 MT of coal imports for the plants designed to run on imported coal.
(With PTI inputs)