Electricity sector of India

Electricity coverage 99.7% (9 January 2019)

Installed capacity 370.11 GW

Share of fossil energy 79.8%

Share of renewable energy 17.3%

GHG emissions from electricity generation (2017) 2,194.74 MtCO2

Average electricity use (2018-19) 1,181 kWh per capita

Transmission & Distribution losses (2017-18) 21.04%

Residential consumption 24.76% (2018-19)

Industrial consumption (% of total, 2018-19) 41.16% (2018-19)

Agriculture consumption (% of total, 2018-19) 17.69%

Commercial consumption (% of total, 2018-19) 8.24%

Traction consumption (% of total, 2018-19) 1.52%

Services

Share of private sector in generation 46% (March 2019)

Institutions

Responsibility for policy-setting Ministry of Power

Responsibility for renewable energy Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Responsibility for the environment Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Electricity sector law Electricity Act, 2003

India is the world's third largest producer and third largest consumer of electricity. The national electric
grid in India has an installed capacity of 370.106 GW as of 31 March 2020. Renewable power plants, which
also include large hydroelectric plants, constitute 35.86% of India's total installed capacity. During the 2018-19
fiscal year, the gross electricity generated by utilities in India was 1,372 TWh and the total electricity generation
(utilities and non utilities) in the country was 1,547 TWh. The gross electricity consumption in 2018-19 was
1,181 kWh per capita. In 2015-16, electric energy consumption in agriculture was recorded as being the highest
(17.89%) worldwide. The per capita electricity consumption is low compared to most other countries despite
India having a low electricity tariff. India has a surplus power generation capacity but lacks adequate
distribution infrastructure.
 Total installed utility power capacity by sector and type

Thermal (MW) Renewable (MW)

Nuclear
Sector Sub-Total Other Total (MW) %
Coal Lignite Gas Diesel (MW) Hydro
Thermal Renewable

State 64,736.50 1,290.00 7,118.71 363.93 73,509.13 0.00 26,958.50 2,349.98 102,817.61 29

Central 56,340.00 3,140.00 7,237.91 0.00 66,717.91 6,780.00 15,046.72 1,632.30 90,176.93 25

Private 74,733.00 1,830.00 10,580.60 273.70 87,417.30 0.00 3,394.00 76,650.52 167,461.82 46

All India 195,809.50 6,260.00 24,937.22 637.63 227,644.34 6,780.00 45,399.22 80,632.80 360,456.37 100

Installed capacity by source in India as on 31 March 2020

Coal: 205,134.5 MW (55.4%)
Large Hydro: 45,699.22 MW (12.3%)
Small Hydro: 4,683.16 MW (1.3%)
Wind Power: 37,693.75 MW (10.2%)
Solar Power: 34,627.82 MW (9.4%)
Biomass: 10,022.95 MW (2.7%)
Nuclear: 6,780 MW (1.8%)
Gas: 24,955.36 MW (6.7%)
Diesel: 509.71 MW (0.1%)
 Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO) is a wholly owned Government of India
enterprise under the Ministry of Power. It was earlier a wholly owned subsidiary of Power Grid Corporation of
India Limited (PGCIL). It was formed in March 2009 to handle the power management functions of PGCIL. It
is responsible to ensure the integrated operation of the Grid in a reliable, efficient, and secure manner. It
consists of 5 Regional Load Dispatch Centers and a National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC).

Mr. Sushil Kumar Soonee (currently mentoring as Advisor, POSOCO) was the first Chief Executive
Officer of POSOCO and a special invitee in the Board meetings.

At present followings are the full-time functional directors on the board of POSOCO:-
1. Sh. K.V.S. Baba, Chairman and Managing Director
2. Sh. Praveen Kumar Agarwal, Director (Market Operation)
3. Ms. Meenakshi Davar, Director (HR)
4. Sh. Ranjan Kumar Srivastava, Director (Finance)
5. Sh. S.R. Narasimhan, Director (System Operation)

POSOCO has the following offices:

 National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC)
 Regional Load Dispatch Centers (RLDCs)
1. Northern Regional Load Dispatch Centre (NRLDC) – New Delhi
2. Western Regional Load Dispatch Centre (WRLDC) – Mumbai
3. Eastern Regional Load Dispatch Centre (ERLDC) – Kolkata
4. Southern Regional Load Dispatch Centre (SRLDC) – Bengaluru
5. North-Eastern Regional Load Dispatch Centre (NERLDC) – Shillong

In order to facilitate the management of large scale renewable (mainly wind and solar) integration in the
grid including respective generation-scheduling and generation-forecasting, four Renewable Energy
Management Centers (REMCs) are under development: Northern Regional-REMC (co-located with NRLDC),
Western Regional-REMC (co-located with WRLDC), Southern Regional-REMC (co-located with SRLDC) and
National-REMC (co-located in NLDC premises).

National Load Dispatch Centre

On 25 February 2009 the National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) was inaugurated by Sushilkumar
Shinde (Former Union Minister of Power) and Shiela Dixit (Former Chief Minister, NCT of Delhi). National
Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) has been constituted as per Ministry of Power (MOP) notification, New Delhi
dated 2 March 2005 and is the apex body to ensure integrated operation of the national power system.

State distribution under RLDCs

 Northern grid: Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar
Pradesh, Uttarakhand
 Western grid: Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar
Haveli
 Eastern grid: Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Sikkim
 Southern grid: Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Pondicherry
 North-Eastern grid: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura

The primary objective of power system operation is delivering power to consumers meeting strict
tolerances on voltage magnitude and frequency. Accordingly, the operation control problems naturally divide
into the control of voltage magnitudes or the voltage control issues and the control of system frequency or the
frequency control problems. Because a power system is an interconnected, large system spread over a
geographically wide network, operation of the large system is complex. The controls are built to exploit the
inherent timescale and structural properties of the system. The frequency control includes two sub problems.
First, we need to determine optimal values of generations that minimize the total generation costs while meeting
the load demands. This problem is denoted the economic dispatch problem.
It can be shown that differences between total active power that is generated and the total active power
that is consumed lead to frequency drifting. Because the load fluctuations themselves are random, it is not
possible to exactly match the total generation with the power consumption at all times. Therefore, the system
frequency will tend to drift around on its own. A brief introduction to the control called the automatic
generation control or the load frequency control. Voltage control problem is another important topic because it
is a complex problem. The operation of the power system also has to meet regulations on security and
reliability. Roughly speaking, the system is required to continue normal operation even with the loss of any one
component. These studies are grouped under the framework of power system security, which is a broad topic in
itself.