In view of the increasing demand for electricity and shortage of gas in India, the government has started taking big steps. India’s Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy Shripad Naik recently told the Parliament that the supply of natural gas has been affected due to America and Israel’s ongoing war with Iran, which has affected both the availability and price of gas in India.
The share of gas in India’s total electricity generation is only about 2%, but the country uses about 8 GW of gas-based electricity during summer and peak demand times. In such a situation, shortage of gas may increase the pressure on power supply. To deal with this situation, the government has started the process of rapidly approving wind energy and battery energy storage systems. With this, the power shortage will be overcome to a great extent in the coming time.
Keep an eye on these projects also
Along with this, the government is also monitoring the progress of coal and hydro power projects, which are targeted to be started by June 2026. The minister assured that the country’s power system is ready to meet the increasing summer demand. Meanwhile, Tata Power’s 4 GW imported coal-based power plant in Gujarat has been instructed to run at full capacity from April 1 to June 30.
The government took these steps
According to reports, India will depend more on coal-based electricity to meet the increasing demand for electricity this summer. About 75% of the electricity generation in the country comes from coal, hence instructions have been given to run the coal plants at full capacity and avoid any kind of shutdown. Apart from this, the government has also encouraged industries to generate power through their own captive power plants, so that the pressure on the main grid can be reduced.