India needs to look beyond coal-based power, says coal minister

Currently, about 26 percent of installed electricity generation capacity in India is accounted for by hydropower, against 50 percent in the 1960s.

Thermal generation, using coal and to a lesser extent gas accounts for around 66 percent,
while non-conventional energy sources, of which wind energy is predominant, account for about 5 percent.
Nuclear energy constitutes only about 3 percent of the country's total power generation.

There are no two opinions about the need to switch over to other modes of power generation like nuclear energy and hydro. Coal-based power production has to be restricted," Bagrodia told IANS.

India's power deficit stood at 73,050 million units in 2007-08, during which period 653,172 million units were supplied against a demand of 726,222 million units.

The government has estimated that India will require an installed capacity of over 200,000 MW by 2012 to meet its electricity demand, 60 percent more of what the country currently has. India envisages providing electricity to all households including 234 million families living below the poverty line and electrifying around 115,000 villages by 2009.

A power ministry official said India needed to increase power generation capacity to 400,000 MW by 2030 from the existing 130,000 MW. "The power generated through renewable energy technologies has to be increased to 25 percent [share of the total power generated] against the present five percent," added the official.