OPINION: Issues that remain unaddressed in Electricity Amendment Bill 2021
Over the past two decades, India has pushed for significant reforms in the power sector, which have helped the country transition from a power deficit to a power surplus nation.
The establishment of The Electricity Act (the “Act”) of 2003 laid the groundwork for this progress, as India attempted to reform all aspects of the power sector, including generation, distribution, transmission, trading, and consumption.
During this period, India pursued an aggressive capacity expansion strategy in the power sector with a focus on “Power for All”; successfully achieving a 100 percent household electrification rate. While sustained economic growth will drive electricity demand, necessitating further capacity additions, India’s power sector strategy will prioritize efficiency, decarbonization, modernization, and reliability of power sector assets.
Investments from foreign and domestic investors in the power sector will be the key to achieving these objectives, especially in realizing Prime Minister Modi’s ambition of raising the deployment of renewable energy capacity by five-fold to 450 GW by 2030.
