Energy Sector
Abstract:
- To maintain the growth momentum of Bihar recorded in the recent years and the consequent increasing demand for power, the State Government has taken several initiatives, the results of which are already visible. For example,
- the Per Capita Consumption of electricity has risen from 145 kwh in 2012-13 to 332 kwh in 2019-20, implying a growth of 129 percent in 7 years.
- There was also a significant increase in the projected peak demand in Bihar from 2650 MW in 2012-13 to 5900 MW in 2019-20, implying a growth of 123 percent in 7 years.
- In 2020-21, there is a small deficit of 1.14 percent to meet the peak demand; however, this deficit will be turned into a small surplus of 1.20 percent in 2021-22.
- This will be made possible because of the planned expansion of generation capacity in the state. In comparison to a total generation capacity of 4767 MW in March 2019, it was 6073 MW in March 2020.
- In recent years, the State Government has made serious efforts to ensure supply of electricity to all the households in both rural and urban areas, under programmes like DDUGJY, IPDS and SAUBHAGYA.
- At present, there are 159.3 lakh power consumers in Bihar, rising from 145.7 lakh a year before.
- Apart from increasing the generation capacity and bringing more consumers under the power system, the Discoms in Bihar have also been able to improve their financial performance —the cost coverage has increased from 78.6 percent in 2017-18 to 84.6 percent in 2019-20, and the financial loss has been reduced from 21.4 percent in 2017-18 to 15.4 percent in 2019-20.
Introduction:
- Energy is always one of the essential inputs for economic development for any economy. It provides light and fuel to households and power to industry, agriculture, commerce and all service sectors.
- Apart from that, energy is also a critical factor in building infrastructure for having sustained economic growth. Thus, ensuring the adequate and reliable power supply is always a priority of any government.
- In addition to its well-recognized role in development, it also makes a direct and significant contribution to the economy in term of revenue generation, creation of employment opportunities and also to enhance the quality of life.
- In the recent past, the demand for electricity in Bihar has increased rapidly and is expected to rise further in coming years. But, Bihar has limited availability of natural sources of energy;
- there is less potential to have hydro generation in the state; even the coal mines are located far away, and the wind velocity here is also not sufficient to exploit for power generation.
- To meet the increasing electricity demand, massive addition to the installed generating capacity is required. The economy of Bihar has been growing rapidly and to maintain the present growth momentum in the coming years, the State Government has taken several initiatives to ensure the development of energy sector.
Availability of Power:
- Distribution of Peak Demand, Peak Demand Met and Per Capita Consumption
- The per capita energy consumption in the state has risen from 145 kwh in 2012-13 to 332 kwh in 2019-20, implying a growth of 129 percent in the last seven years.
- There was a significant improvement in projected peak demand in Bihar from 2650 MW in 2012-13 to 5900 MW in 2019-20, implying growth of around 123 percent in the last seven years.
- The peak demand met again had a growth of around 226 percent to reach 5891 MW during 2019-20, from 1802 MW in 2012-13.
- The peak deficit in power has been around 32 percent in 2012-13, but it substantially decreased to almost zero in 2019-20.
- The availability of power in Bihar has increased from an average of 6-8 hours to 20-22 hours in rural areas and from 10-12 hours to 23-24 hours in urban areas.
- The aggregate consumption of electricity in the state during 2015-16 was 18,845 MU, as against 28,988 MU in 2019-20. It implies a growth of over 53 percent in the last four years.
- In 2019-20, three most prosperous districts in terms of power consumption were — Patna (5495 MU), Gaya (1707 MU) and Muzaffarpur (1370 MU).
- At the other end, three bottom districts were — Sheohar (104 MU), Arwal (178 MU) and Sheikhpura (241 MU).
- The three districts which have recorded the highest growth rate of power consumption are — Sheikhpura (26.8 percent), Kishanganj (25.0 percent) and Sheohar (20.9 percent).
Projection of Power Requirement:
- Apart from the production activities, households also require power to ensure the quality of life. Under the ‘Saat Nishchay’ of the State Government, ‘Har Ghar Bijli‘ (supply of power to all households), power companies in Bihar have been able to provide electricity to all 39,073 villages and all 1.06 lakh rural habitations.
- Further, the State Government has already achieved the target to provide electricity connections to all willing 1.40 crore households by October 2018.
- In the next phase, the electric connections will be provided to agriculture pump sets, both new as well as existing diesel pump sets. The State Government has taken up this agenda in a mission mode.
- There will be a quantum jump in power demand in the state in the coming years, due to universal electrification, an increase in agricultural consumers and the increasing demand from the existing consumers (because of widespread use of electrical appliances) and industrialization of the state.
- The estimated annual energy requirements of all consumers from 2019-20 to 2022-23.
- The expected energy requirement of all consumers of Bihar will be 29,508 MU by 2022-23. Compared to the energy requirement of 23093 MU in 2019-20, this implies a growth of 28 percent in three years.
- Table 7.4 shows the projected energy requirement at the state periphery, considering distribution and transmission loss in the light of intra-state trajectory.
- The expected power demand in Bihar by 2022-23 will be 7054 MW, with an annual energy requirement of 38,026 MU.
- In the power sector, installed capacity has remained stable in Bihar, barring fluctuations on account of maintenance work.
- The available power capacity in the state was 4767 MW in 2018-19, which increased to 6073 MW in 2019-20, implying a growth of 27.4 percent.
- To meet the increased demand for power, the State Government has already planned for additional capacity of 4516 MW from different sources in a phased manner by 2022-23.
- These sources are — state generating stations, central generating stations, renewable energy sources, and long/ medium-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) through competitive bidding.
- The additional power capacity will be either from new projects, or from those under construction, or from old projects which are in the process of renovation.
- The total available power capacity of Bihar is expected to be 10,589 MW in 2022-23, of which 6812 MW (64.3 percent) will be conventional and the remaining 3777 MW (35.7 percent) non-conventional.
- Estimated availability of power (2020-21 to 2022-23):
- With the availability of additional generation capacity, the deficit in peak availability of 1.14 percent in 2020-21 will be wiped out in 2021-22, with a surplus availability of 1.20 percent. The surplus availability is expected to rise further to 1.86 percent during 2022-23, because of additional generation capacity.
- There will be a surplus availability of energy over estimated energy requirement by 6.03 percent in 2020-21, due to less consumption in the off-peak period because of the higher domestic load. This surplus availability will further increase to 6.17 percent in 2021-22 and 6.93 percent in 2022-23.
