Centre tells states to meet guidelines for ensuring adequate power to consumers

NEW DELHI — Union Ministry of Power has sent a detailed letter to all states and union territories for adherence to “Resource Adequacy Guidelines” in order to ensure adequate growth in the nation’s power capacity in line with the rapidly growing electricity demand.

The letter states that as per the Resource Adequacy (RA) Guidelines, the distribution licensees are mandated to prepare RA Plan for a 10-year horizon (on a rolling basis) to meet energy requirements.

“It is imperative that all States and UTs must complete their Resource Adequacy Plans for the period starting 2024-25 to 2033-34 in accordance with the rules and guidelines. It is required that all distribution licensees tie up enough capacity for a round-the-clock power supply,” the letter reads.

It states that as on date “Resource Adequacy (RA) Studies” up to the year 2031-32 have been completed by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), for 23 States/UTs, while the RA studies are in progress for the rest of the States and UTs, namely for Delhi, Goa, Sikkim, Haryana, Bihar, West Bengal, Chandigarh, Puducherry and J&K.

“However, the distribution licensees are now required to submit to CEA the data up to the year 2033-34, for carrying out national-level RA studies. Accordingly, a detailed letter dated 2nd February, 2024 has been sent to the states and UTs, for adherence to Resource Adequacy Guidelines,” the letter points out.

It reads that the Rule10 of the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020 states that distribution licensees must provide power to all customers round-the-clock, with the exception of a few consumer categories for which the State Electricity Regulatory Commission has set lower supply hours.

“The Indian economy is expected to keep growing at a high rate and become the third-largest economy of the world by the year 2030. As a result, our power consumption has also surged, with the peak power demand rising by more than 79 per cent, from 136 GW in 2014 to 243 GW today,” the letter reads.

It reads that correspondingly, our generation capacity has also expanded, rising from 248.5 GW in March 2014 to 428.3 GW in December 2023, a 72.4 per cent increase.

“Additionally, the nation has installed adequate inter-regional transmission infrastructure to move 117 GW of power across the nation,” the letter reads.

It adds that to cater to the rapidly growing demand, it is imperative that the country’s generation capacity also develops at an accelerated rate.