India’s energy needs to grow three-fold by 2040: World Bank

Energy demand in India will develop 30% between 2018 and 2040, reports a new report by the World Bank labeled Dark: How Much Do Power Sector Distortions Cost South Asia.

In the financial year 2018, when total installed capacity was more than double the amount of peak demand, peak demand shortage still registered 2.1 percent in India.

Over the decade ending in 2016, India more than doubled their power-generation capacity from 154.7 GW in 2007 to 345.5 GW in 2018, with average yearly growth in capacity outstripping annual growth in gross domestic product (GDP), the report cited.

Access to electricity has been expanded to contain more than 115 million people since 2013. On the basis of the difference between synchronized and market prices, the International Energy Agency estimates that financial support in India’s power sector amount to 0.36 percent of GDP.

In manufacturing and services collectively, the total losses in yearly output attributable to power shortages amounted to $22.7 billion in India, in fiscal 2016, the report believed.

The 2018 Global Competitiveness Report ranks India 80th among 137 economies in the consistency of its electricity supply.

India attained 100 percent village electrification in 2018. But at the domestic level, its rural access rate, at 81 percent in 2017, is still the third-lowest in South Asia.