Government of India has released the year end reviews for various ministries, as is the custom. The report of Power ministry makes an entertaining reading. It gives total capacity of electricity generation at present in the country. But it cleverly avoids mentioning the rising demand for power in country. In every respect!Indian economy is growing at the rate of 8 percent each year and according to a study by The McKinsey & Company. According to the study, power demand may rise from the present 120 gigawatt (GW) to 315-335 GW by 2017. (1)
But going by the data provided by ministry, (2) during the period from Jan. 08 to Nov. 08, total availability of energy in the country was 625289 MU(kilowatt per hour), as against 601517 MU during the same period last year, representing a growth of about 4%. Note that the growth has taken place compared to last year and it is still way far from satisfying the need of 120 GW. During the period Jan.08 to Nov.08 total energy exchanges in the country were 16918.90 MU.
The condition in Maharashtra is still worse. The state is facing a power shortage of at least 5000 MW. Thanks to slow down and recession, the demand has come down significantly. Even though state energy ministers and chief ministers have repeatedly said that load shedding will be passe in few years. But the situation has worsened so much that the state has to declare power cuts for industries. Just before recession set its feet in India, industrial belts were in Maharashtra were reeling under the ‘staggering day’ formula where they were forced to keep their shops shut for two days. Since July and upto September, big cities in the state were having 8 hours of load shedding while the villages were having 12 hours of load shedding. The same darkness reigns even today also and likely to be in coming days also. That is the prospects for 2009 for Maharashtra.
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References
2. PIB
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