Electrification: past and future

Electrification in India recently came into focus, courtesy the Saubhagya initiative of the Government of India(GoI). Let us try to see where we stand over the years. In 1947, only about 1500 villages were electrified. Now, we are talking about 5.8 lakh village electrified. Where does our rural electrification stand today? 99.25% covered. In 1947, the installed capacity was 1362 MW. By August 2017, the total installed capacity has jumped up to 3,29,226 MW. Over the past 70 years, our installed capacity has been growing at a compounded annual growth rate(CAGR) of 8.15%. (For comparison, our GDP has grown by approximately 7.6%.) Another interesting statistic is the per capita consumption of electricity: 16.3 units in 1947, 1075 units in 2016. A CAGR of 6.25%.  In terms of per capita consumption, we don’t stand that well. In USA its 12,077; in European Union: 5,391.  

GoI is a continuum, even though the members of the cabinet change periodically. When we started, we did not have much of a grid to talk about. The administrations over the last 70 years have worked tirelessly to bring near 100% energy connectivity. Our per capita consumption has been steadily increasing despite our near 10% decadal growth of population. In the meanwhile, energy profile is also changing. An LED bulb of just 9W can replace a 60W incandescent bulb, and last four times more.  The brushless DC motors are bringing down energy need for fans and motors. The current focus on distributed power(Solar initiative) is trending towards meeting all energy needs with 12V DC powered by local renewable resources. These are exciting times for engineers of all streams to improve the quality of life of the common man in India. 

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