India's energy deficit down to 1% in four years: NITI Aayog

The installed power generation capacity in India has risen to 344 GigaWatts (GW) and its energy deficit, which stood at over 4 per cent in 2014, has shrunk to less than one per cent in 2018, an official release said on Wednesday.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant made a presentation at a review meeting held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday that looked at the progress of key infrastructure sectors -- power, renewable energy, petroleum and natural gas, coal, and mining, the release said.

"In course of the presentation made by CEO NITI Aayog, it was noted that the installed power generation capacity in India has risen to 344 GW. India's energy deficit, which stood at over four per cent in 2014, has shrunk to less than one per cent in 2018.

"Significant capacity additions have been made in transmission lines, transformer capacity and inter-regional transmission," it said.

The release said that India now ranks 26th in the World Bank's "Ease of Getting Electricity" Index, up from 99th in 2014.

The meeting reviewed progress in household electrification under the SAUBHAGYA initiative. Discussions also focused on last-mile connectivity and distribution, in both urban and rural areas.

"In the new and renewable energy sector, cumulative installed capacity has nearly doubled, from 35.5 GW in 2013-14 to about 70 GW in 2017-18. In solar energy, installed capacity has increased from 2.6 GW to 22 GW in the same period," the release said.

Officials expressed confidence that the country is on track to comfortably achieve the target of 175 GW renewable energy capacity by 2022.

Modi urged the officials to work towards ensuring that the benefits from increase in solar energy capacity reach the farmers through appropriate interventions such as solar pumps and user-friendly solar cooking solutions.

The meeting noted that the targets set under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana will be comfortably achieved in the current financial year.

In the coal sector, discussions focused on further augmentation of production capacity, the release added.

The review meeting was attended by top officials from infrastructure-related Ministries, NITI Aayog and the Prime Minister's Office.

--IANS

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