1.Power sector at a glance
Electricity has been universally recognized as one of the most important inputs for economic growth and human development. There is a strong two-way relationship between economic development and energy consumption. On one hand, growth of an economy, with its global competitiveness, depends on the availability of cost-effective and environmentally benign energy sources, and on the other hand, the level of economic development has been observed to be reliant on the energy demand.
The electricity sector in India supplies the world's 5th largest energy consumer, accounting for 4.0% of global energy consumption. The Energy policy of India is predominantly controlled by the Government of India's , Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal and Ministry of New Renewable Energy and administered locally by Public Sector Undertakings as well as some private players entry after power sector liberalization. Electricity consumed in India is generated by thermal power plants , hydroelectric power plants , nuclear power plants. Renewable Energy Sources with a share of 65 %, 22 %, 3% , 10 % respectively.
Rapid economic growth due to other industrial sectors like metal, cement, textiles, fertilizers, paper mills has created a growing need for dependable and reliable supplies of electricity, gas and petroleum products. Due to the fast-paced growth of India's economy, the country's energy demand has grown an average of 3.6% per annum over the past 30 years. In August 2011, the installed power generation capacity of India stood at 181,558 MW ( refer table -1 / trend -1 in annexure) and per capita energy consumption stood at 704 kWh in 2008-09.( refer table-3) The country's annual energy production increased from about 190 billion kWh in 1986 to more than 837