India’s Energy Needs to Triple by 2040: World Bank

In fiscal 2018, when total installed capacity was more than twice the amount of peak demand, peak demand shortage still registered 2.1% in India,World Bank said.

Energy demand in India will grow 30% between 2018 and 2040, a new report by the World Bank titled Dark: How Much Do Power Sector Distortions Cost South Asia said.

In fiscal 2018, when total installed capacity was more than twice the amount of peak demand, peak demand shortage still registered 2.1 percent in India.

India and Pakistan lose about a quarter of electricity in the network for both technical and commercial reasons, well above the 10 percent international norm, the report mentioned.

Over the decade ending in 2016, India more than doubled their power-generation capacity from 154.7 GW in 2007 to 345.5 GW in 2018, with average annual growth in capacity outstripping annual growth in gross domestic product (GDP), the report mentioned.

Access to electricity has been expanded to include more than 115 million people since 2013.

On the basis of the difference between regulated and market prices, the International Energy Agency estimates that subsidies in India’s power sector amount to 0.36 percent of GDP.

In manufacturing and services combined, the total losses in annual output attributable to power shortages amounted to $22.7 billion in India, in fiscal 2016, the report said.

The 2018 Global Competitiveness Report ranks India 80th among 137 economies in the reliability of its electricity supply.

India achieved 100 percent village electrification in 2018. But at the household level, its rural access rate, at 81 percent in 2017, is still the third-lowest in South Asia.