Delhi to be power surplus in two years: Goyal

Setting an ambitious target of making Delhi a power surplus state in the next two years, Power Minister Piyush Goyal today promised respite from power crisis in the National Capital during summer season this year.
Terming it as a 'Mumbaikar's' gift to Delhi, Goyal said the city would be free from diesel-generator sets in the next two years as it would have surplus electricity.
"There will be respite from power crisis in coming summer and in the next two years we hope that the people of Delhi do not require diesel-generator (DG) sets," the minister said at a conference here.

He said that making the national capital power surplus and free from diesel-generator (DG) sets will be a Mumbaikar's (Goyal) gift to Delhi.
"Delhi which is our national capital should be power surplus, the concern is not so much generation as much as transmitting power to meet the needs of the NCR," the minister said.
"Transmission system in Delhi is weak, it has not seen enough investments over the last 10-12 years, the distribution network at the last mile has seen burnt down transformers, terribly under-rated transformers could have resulted in grid almost collapsing," Goyal added.

Efforts would be made to improve the last mile connectivity, he said.

Delhi recorded a peak power demand (electricity requirement when consumption is at its highest) of 6,000 MW in last year's summer season.
After collapse of grid in Delhi in May 2014 leading to frequent power cuts, central government acted decisively to restore power lines and provide power to all homes.
It has made a massive investment of Rs 7,700 crore to prepare a short term and a medium term plan ensuring such crisis does not occur again.
The investments include upgrading power infrastructure, bringing more transmission lines, underground cabling, smart metering to stop wrong billing and emergency response systems among others.