Best of BS Opinion: Powering

Best of BS Opinion: Powering

Surging demand for power owing to an extended, unusually hot summer and rising economic activity has seen northern states, some of them critical manufacturing bases, facing widening demand-supply gaps. The key point about this power deficit is that it has occurred in the absence of the usual suspects – a shortage of coal, which accounts for 70 per cent of electricity generation, or the underperformance of hydropower, the second largest energy supplier.

The causes lie in the old structural fault lines that have afflicted the sector for decades – poor investment in transmission infrastructure caused by cash-strapped state discoms’ inability to price power commercially. Added to this is the limited role of renewable energy as result of technical challenges and high raw material costs. These weaknesses need to be addressed urgently as the government seeks to balance the competing challenges of higher power demand and zero-emission targets, the top edit argues. Read it here