Discuss the strategies that are required for the over all development of the power sector in India.(200 Words)
Refer - The Hindu
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 5 years
KEY POINTS
· The erection of electricity poles and an extension of wires do not necessarily mean uninterrupted power flow to households.
· The Access to Clean Cooking Energy and Electricity Survey of States (ACCESS) report by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), has highlighted the gap between a connection and reliable power supply.
· While the median hours of supply increased from 12 hours in 2015 to 16 hours a day in 2018, it is still far from the goal of 24x7.
For 24x7 power supply
· In order to achieve 24x7 power for all, India needs real-time monitoring of supply at the end-user level. While the government is bringing all feeders in the country online, we currently have no provision to monitor supply as experienced by households.
· Only such granular monitoring can help track the evolving reality of electricity supply on the ground and guide discoms to act in areas with sub-optimal performance. Smart meters (that the government plans to roll out) should help enable such monitoring.
· Discoms need to focus on improving the quality of supply as well as maintenance services. Adequate demand estimation and respective power procurement will go a long way in reducing load shedding.
· Moreover, about half the rural population across the six States reported at least two days of 24-hour-long unpredictable blackouts in a month. Such incidents are indicative of poor maintenance, as opposed to intentional load-shedding.
· Discoms need to identify novel cost-effective approaches to maintain infrastructure in these far-flung areas. Odisha has outsourced infrastructure maintenance in some of its rural areas to franchisees, while Maharashtra has introduced village-level coordinators to address local-level challenges.
· Finally, the improvement in supply should be complemented with a significant improvement in customer service, which includes billing, metering and collection.
· We need radically innovative approaches such as the proposed prepaid smart meters and last-mile rural franchisees to improve customer service and revenue collection.
Nihaaris 5 years
Power is one of the most critical components of infrastructure crucial for the economic growth and welfare of nations. India’s Sources of power generation range from conventional sources such as coal, lignite, natural gas, oil, hydro and nuclear power to viable non-conventional sources such as wind, solar, and agricultural and domestic waste. Electricity demand in the country has increased rapidly and is expected to rise further in the years to come. In order to meet the increasing demand for electricity in the country, strategies are required for the overall development of the power sector in India
Some initiatives by the Government of India to boost the Indian power sector:
other measures:
IAS Parliament 5 years
Good answer. Try to include about few highlights of ACCESS report by Council on Energy, Environment and Water, development of infrastructure in rural areas for reliable power supply. Keep Writing.
