Power demand to soar about 3 times by 2040: Niti

India's energy demand is likely to soar around three times by 2040, leading to increase in overall primary energy imports, says Niti Aayog's draft National Energy Policy.
The draft policy has also revealed that even if efforts were stepped up to enhance domestic energy supply, coupled with heroic effort to reduce energy demand, India's overall primary energy import dependence could still rise to 36-55 per cent by 2040 from 31 per cent in 2012.
"As per the energy modelling exercise undertaken by the NITI Aayog - India Energy Security Scenarios (IESS), 2047, the energy demand of India is likely to go up by 2.7-3.2 times between 2012 and 2040, with the electricity component itself rising 4.5 fold," Niti Aayog said in its Draft National Energy Policy.

It further noted that an expert group constituted by NITI Aayog has determined that meeting the 175 GW renewable installed capacity target by 2022, would not be as much a financial challenge as a technical one.