Energy has been recognized as one of the most important catalyst for economic growth and human development. However, providing quality energy continuously and at affordable prices is one of the main challenges which are being faced by most States in India.
Energy is required by humans to conduct their day to day activities. Electricity is one of the cleanest form of energy used throughout the world. The per capita electricity consumption is one of the main parameters now a day to determine the economic growth & human development of the nation. Energy use has been growing rapidly in developing economies but developed economies are still using almost five times as much energy on per capita basis. The average annual energy consumption per capita of the world was 3.3 MWh during 2017-18. USA reportedly has the highest per capita energy consumption of 13.1 MWh per annum, whereas per capita energy consumption of China & India was 4.9 MWh & 1.0 MWh respectively (Source-IEA, http://energyatlas.iea.org/#!/tellmap/-1118783123/1).
India is the third largest energy consumer in the world, trailing the United States and China. The per capita electricity consumption of India has increased from 884 kWh in 2011-12 to 1208 kWh in 2019-20 (Source-CEA,http://cea.nic.in/wp-content/uploads/pdm/2020/12/growth_2020.pdf).
Total installed capacity of electricity generation in India is 3,84,116 MW, out of which 60.9% is from thermal power plants, 12.1% from large hydro plants, 1.8% from nuclear power plants and rest 25.2% from renewable energy resources like Small Hydro Project, Biomass Gasifier, Biomass Power, Urban & Industrial Waste Power, Solar and Wind Energy. The total energy generation in India has been increased from 808 BU to 1381 BU’s during 2010-2020 (Source-MoP, http://powermin.gov.in/en/content/power-sector-glance-all-India).