Managing peak electricity demand in the Indian electricity sector

The Indian power system has operated under a paradigm of electricity shortage since Independence, owing to insufficient energy production in the country. In 1947, per capita electricity consumption was a mere 17 kWh and installed generation capacity was 1.36 GW. From the 1950s to the 1980s, power generation grew by 10–11 percent annually – a rate significantly higher than the real GDP growth during the same period. Further, in recent years, energy and peak deficits have dropped to 0.4 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively, which is a significant improvement from the long-term average of 8 percent and 15 percent, respectively. However, a few states continue to experience deficits due to a lack of supply resources and/or limited grid infrastructure. Since 2018, India has had surplus generation capacity with low-capacity utilisation, resulting primarily from excessive coal capacity addition during the 12th five year plan (2012–17).