Centre asks states to tie up for power procurement, develop transmission infra to meet rising demand

New Delhi: Union minister for power Manohar Lal on Friday stressed the need for resource adequacy and tie-ups for power procurement to meet increasing demand.

Addressing the regional conference for the South, he said that states, while meeting their resource adequacy plan should also work on having an adequate power generation mix including addition of nuclear generation capacity, said the ministry.

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The statement gains significance as power purchase agreements for over 40GW of renewable power projects are unsigned.

He also asked urged to accelerate the development of inter-state transmission networks, including Right of Way (RoW) issues. Right of way refers to the legal right for passage over of use of the land owned by some other individual or entity. He asked states for adoption of guidelines issued by the Union government in this regard.

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The minister noted that that states should promote renewable energy coupled with storage solutions so as to have energy reliability and to collectively meet India’s international climate commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Addressing the conference, Pankaj Agarwal, secretary, Union ministry of power, reiterated the need to meet future power demand by ensuring necessary power generation capacity tie-ups as per the resource adequacy plan for up to FY2035.

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He said that it is also imperative to make necessary arrangements for development of inter-state and intra-state transmission capacities through various financing models available including Tariff Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB), Regulated Tariff Mechanism (RTM), budgetary support or monetization of existing assets.

The secretary also said that states should make all efforts for securing the power sector infrastructure, including the transmission grid and distribution systems, against cyber security concerns and should implement necessary cyber security protocols for the same, he added.

Growth in the transmission network is also important to integrate the growing renewable energy capacity in the country, more so when the government aims to achieve 500GW of non-fossil capacity in the country by 2030.

An investment of ₹10 trillion would be required in the power transmission space by 2030 as the government aims to add battery storage capacity along with expanding transmission network. According to the National Electricity Plan for transmission released by the CEA in October last year, a cumulative investment of ₹9.15 trillion would be required in the transmission sector to achieve 500GW clean energy capacity and add the required storage capacity to ensure steady power supply.

Data from CEA, showed that about 8,830 circuit kilometres (ckm) of transmission lines were added in FY25 across the country, 37.8% lower than 14,203 ckm in the previous fiscal.