The story so far: “India has been transformed from a power deficit to a power sufficient nation in past ten years,” announced Union Minister of Power Shripad Naik in a written query in April 3, 2025. An addition of 238 GW in generation capacity since April 2014 spanning 2,01,088 circuit kilometers (ckm) of transmission lines has helped to boost inter-regional transferring capacity to 1,18,740 MW, he noted.
In the past four years, the gap between the energy demand and capacity has fallen to 0.1% and total installed capacity has increased to 470 GW. Currently, energy produced by thermal fuels (coal, diesel, lignite and natural gas) is 12,41,261 Million Units (MU), while nuclear and hydro-electric sources account for to 51,962 MU and 1,39,780 MU respectively. Renewable sources accounted for 2,30,868 MU in energy production, with wind at 78,214 MU, solar at 1,27,339 MU, biomass 3392 MU, bagesse 8349 MU, small hydro 10,951 MU and others at 2621 MU.
A closer look at India’s power production shows that while renewable energy sources are increasing, thermal remains the primary source. The contribution of renewable contribution as a percentage has gradually increased from 11.5% in 2021-22 to 13.78% in 2024-2025. Keeping in pace with India’s growing power demand, its generation has increased from 13,74,024 MU in 2021-22 to 15,46,229 MU in 2024-25, closing the gap from 0.4% in 2021-22 to 0.1% in 2024-25.
How is power transferred between States?
India’s States are divided into five regional power grids – North, East, West, South and North-East. The first inter-regional grid connection was accomplished in 1991 when the East and North-Eastern grids were connected. The West followed in 2003 and the North in 2006. A national power grid was established after the South was synchronously interconnected with the commissioning of the 765 kilo Volt (kV) Raichur-Solapur transmission line in 2013, thereby ensuring that the entire nation was operating at one frequency – 50 Hertz (Hz). The archipelagos of Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar, which are far away from the Indian mainland, are not connected to the national grid.
This National Grid is maintained by the government-run Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (the Power Grid) to monitor, regulate and facilitate inter-State power flow. Overall, the Power Grid carries 45% of India’s transmission capacity via its large network of transmission towers, substations of varying voltages, satellite communication, transformers and reactors. As part of its national grid operations, PGCI manages the national load dispatch centre (NLDC), five regional load dispatch centres (RLDC) and State load dispatch centres (SLDC), monitoring the power flow across States. These centres interact with the dispatch centres of private power companies to monitor and regulate their power flow too.
Power Grid’s transmission capacity as of 2024
While the Power Grid is the central transmission utility in India (and the largest), private companies like Adani Transmission, Tata Power, Sterlite Power, and ReNew Power too have their own network and load dispatch centres which are connected to the SLDCs. The Power Grid also oversees power trading between various power entities, States and regions and is responsible for integrating power produced by renewable energy sources with the National Grid, implementing smart grids across cities, facilitating power transfer between India and Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.
How are States bridging the power gap?
North
Comprising of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu-Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh,in the N//orth has consistently reduced from 1% from 2021-22 to 0.2% in 2024-2025. Jammu-Kashmir has seen a dramatic drop in its power gap from 7.6% to 0.5% as energy supplie,=[==d which ranged between 18,400 and 19,700 MU caught up to its demand which has risen from 19,000 to 20,500 MU. Among the large states, Uttar Pradesh has managed to meet its energy demand reducing its gap from 0.9% to 0.2%, while Rajasthan saw fluctuation in its energy gap from 0.6% to 1.7% in 2022-23 and 0.3% in 2024-25. During this time, Rajasthan’s demand rose to 89,000 MU to 1,07,000 MU.
Overall, Himachal Pradesh is the only state whose energy gap has increased from 27 MU in 2021-22 to 37 MU in 2024-25.
South & West
These two regions which cover India’s largest power consuming states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana, have managed to keep their energy gap limited to 0.1% through the years. In the West, Maharashtra is the largest power consumer as its requirement grew from 1,72,823 MU in 2021-22 to 2,07,018 MU in 2023-2024. However, it has managed to meet its power requirement keeping its energy gap a mere 0.1%. Gujarat, the region’s second biggest power consumer, saw its requirement increase from 1,29,953 MU to 1,45,768 MU; but its energy gap remained at 0%.
Similarly in the South, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana have large power requirements. The region’s requirement has ballooned from 3,50,672 MU in 2021-22 to 4,19,531 MU in 2023-24. The power demand of Tamil Nadu is the highest 1,09,816 MU to 1,26,163 MU but the energy gap is 0%. Similarly, Telangana and Karnataka have maintained a 0% energy gap but Andhra Pradesh’s energy gap has been gradually reducing from 0.6% to 0% in 2024-25.
East & North-East
Despite it being one of the first regions to get an interconnected grid, East grid’s States like Bihar and Jharkhand have been unable to meet their power demands. However, West Bengal and Odisha have been able manage their demands. In 2021-2022, Bihar and Jharkhand had an energy requirement of 36,216 MU and 11,148 MU for which 355 MU and 558 MU remained unmet respectively. This energy gap increased through the years before it settled to 0.4% and 0.5% for the respective states in 2024-25. On the other hand, Odisha and West Bengal’s demands which have increased from 54,001 MU and 38,339 MU respectively from 2021-22 to 67,576 MU and 41,358 MU in 2023-24, have managed to keep their energy gap within 0.1%.
One of the lightest regions in terms of energy requirement, the North Eastern grid’s demand has increased slightly from 18,079 MU in 2021-22 to 20,022 MU in 2023-24. Its energy gap, however has been erratic increasing from 0.3% to 1.4% before dropping back to 0.1% by 2024-25. Assam, the region’s biggest power consumer, has seen a boost in its demand from 10,844 MU to 12,445 MU through the years. However, it has managed to meet its demand keeping its energy gap between 0-0.8%. On the other hand, Meghalaya, whose energy demand has more or less remained constant at 2200 MU, has seen its energy gap oscillate between 0.8% to 7.6% before dropping to 0%, indicating how its energy requirement of 170 MU remained unmet in 2023-24.
What is being done to rectify this?
According to the Power Ministry’s annual report 2024-25, India has added 14,360 ckm this year, enhancing the country’s transformation capacity by adding 86,610 MVA and interregional capacity of 2200 MW. Six Extra-High Voltage (EHV) lines – voltages above 400 kV, have been commissioned through the year in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Assam and Meghalaya.
Moreover, the Centre revealed that in the past four years, renewable energy production has increased from 1,70,912 MU in 2021-22 to 2,30,867 MU in 2024-25. Rajasthan has almost doubled its capacity from 24,099 MU to 50,322 MU, followed by Gujarat which added 15,644 MU in this time. States like Tripura, Manipur, Jharkhand, Puducherry, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh and Chandigarh are some of the regions where renewable energy production is very negligible (<40 MU).
With India’s plan to boost its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030, the Centre needs to install the transmission system needed to evacuate the power. Accordingly, interstate transmission networks for the evacuation of 161.9 GW of the installed capacity of 209 GW of renewable energy are under construction. Transmission systems for delivery of power to the Green Hydrogen/Green Ammonia Manufacturing hubs at Mundra, Kundla, Gopalpur, Paradeep, and Vizag are under planning. Public or private investment upto ₹9.15 lakh crore is needed in the transmission sector to realise the Centre’s plan.
Published – May 20, 2025 03:38 pm IST
