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.