Central Electricity Authority notifies the National Electricity Plan for the period of 2022-32

Source: The post is based on the article “Central Electricity Authority notifies the National Electricity Plan for the period of 2022-32” published in the PIB on  31st May 2023

What is the News?

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has notified the National Electricity Plan (NEP) for the period of 2022-32.

About the National Electricity Plan (NEP)

As per section 3(4) of the Electricity Act, 2003, Central Electricity Authority has been mandated to prepare a National Electricity Plan (NEP) in accordance with the National Electricity Policy and notify such plan once in five years.

What are the key features of the National Electricity Plan (NEP) 2022-32?

Timeline: The plan includes a review of the last five years (2017-22), a detailed plan for the next five years (2022-27) and a prospective plan for the next five years (2027-32).

Peak demand and requirements: The projected All India peak electricity demand and electrical energy requirement is 277.2 GW and 1907.8 BU for 2026-27 and 366.4 GW and 2473.8 BU for 2031-32.

Note: The Energy Requirement & Peak Demand are inclusive of the impact due to increased adoption of Electric Vehicles, Installation of Solar roof tops, Production of Green hydrogen, Saubhagya scheme etc.

Fund requirements: The total fund requirement for generation capacity addition for the period 2022-2027 is estimated to be more than Rs. 14.54 lakh Crores and for the period 2027-2032 has been estimated to be more than Rs. 19.06 lakh Crores. Overall, funds to the tune of Rs. 33.60 lakh crore needed for power generation capacity addition from 2022-2032.

Increase in non-fossil-based energy: The share of non-fossil-based capacity is likely to increase to 57.4% by the end of 2026-27 and may likely to further increase to 68.4% by the end of 2031-32 from around 42.5% as on April’2023.

Reduction in emissions: The average emission factor is expected to reduce to 0.548 kg CO2/kWhnet in the year 2026-27 and to 0.430 kg CO2/kWhnet by the end of 2031-32.

Installed capacity vs generated power: Installed capacity does not perfectly translate into generated power as different sources of energy have varying efficiencies, and not all sources of power are available at all times. For instance, solar power is available only during the day and wind energy is dependent on climate vagaries.

So, the available power from renewable energy will only be around 35.04% of the total generated electricity by 2026-27 and 43.96% by 2031-32.

What are the challenges ahead in implementing National Electricity Plan?