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14-11-2024
Bureau Report
NEW DELHI: India’s federal power minister on Tuesday asked the states that are away from coal resources to consider setting up nuclear-based power plants, besides identifying and listing of the power utilities to meet investments to support growing power demand.
The Indian government in its federal budget this year had proposed to partner with private players to develop small nuclear reactors to increase the amount of electricity from sources that do not produce carbon dioxide emissions.
States should consider setting up nuclear power plants at the sites where coal-based thermal power plants have completed their life, Manohar Lal, the country’s power minister, told states as per a government statement.
India’s stringent nuclear compensation laws have hampered talks with foreign power plant builders such as General Electric (GE.N), opens new tab and Westinghouse.
The country, which currently has about 8 gigawatt of nuclear capacity, aims to increase it to 20 GW by 2032.
The minister also asked the states to identify and list its power utilities in the country’s stock exchange to meet increasing investment demand in the power sector as well as improve the transmission system to add more renewable capacity.
India has pledged to achieve a net zero carbon emission target by 2070 and has a target of 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030.
Noting that the aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses of discoms have increased to 17.6% in FY24 from 15.4% in the previous fiscal year, the minister said the Centre has suggested states to calculate technical and commercial losses separately to allow targeted solutions.
“States should look into addressing losses with dedicated methodologies for both technical and commercial losses,” he said.
The minister also informed that the outstanding debt of discoms stands at ₹6.84 trillion, while accumulated losses currently stand at ₹6.46 trillion. He called upon states to accelerate reform measures to reduce this burden and improve financial sustainability.
The conference chaired by the Union minister was attended by the chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir Omar Abdullah, three deputy chief ministers and 12 power ministers of states along with principal secretaries of states and other officials.
Further, during the deliberations on Tuesday, the minister also stressed on the need to expand the nuclear power generation capacity and asked states to look for suitable sites for such projects. Currently, 18 sites have been identified for possible nuclear power plants.
He said that government aims to increase India’s nuclear power generation capacity to 20 GW by 2032 from the current 8 GW. “States which are away from the coal sources should consider setting up of nuclear power plants at the sites where coal based thermal power plants have completed their life,” he said.
Further, during the deliberations on Tuesday, the minister also stressed on the need to expand the nuclear power generation capacity and asked states to look for suitable sites for such projects. Currently, 18 sites have been identified for possible nuclear power plants.
He said that government aims to increase India’s nuclear power generation capacity to 20 GW by 2032 from the current 8 GW. “States which are away from the coal sources should consider setting up of nuclear power plants at the sites where coal based thermal power plants have completed their life,” he said.
