Share of non-fossil based power generation capacity to be 68.4% by 2032: Govt

The share of non-fossil-based power generation capacity is expected to increase to 57.4% by the end of 2026-27 and further to 68.4% by the end of 2031-32 from its current capacity of 42.5%, the Ministry of Power said in a statement late Wednesday. The government also unveiled the National Electricity Plan (NEP) for 2022-32.

According to NEP, the projected all-India peak electricity demand and electrical energy requirement is 277.2 GW (Gigawatt) and 1907.8 BU (billion units) for the year 2026-27 and 366.4 GW and 2473.8 BU for the year 2031-32 as per 20th Electric Power Survey (EPS) Demand projections. "The energy requirement & peak demand are inclusive of the impact due to increased adoption of electric vehicles, installation of solar rooftops, production of green hydrogen, saubhagya scheme etc," the ministry said.

For 2026-27, the likely installed power generation capacity is 6,09,591 MW (Megawatt). Of this, conventional power generation capacity (in the form of coal, gas and nuclear) is expected to account for 273,038 MW, renewable-based capacity is likely to account for 5,96,275 MW and BESS (battery energy storage systems) capacity is expected to account for 8,680MW/34,720 MWh (Megawatt hour).

Amongst the conventional capacity, the power generation through coal is expected to be 2,35,133MW, through gas is expected to be 24,824MW and nuclear power generation capacity is expected to be 13,080MW.

Amongst renewable-based capacity, the power generation through large hydro projects is expected to be 52,446 MW, through solar projects is likely to be 185,566 MW, through wind projects is expected to be 72,895 MW, through small hydro projects is expected to be 5,200 MW, through biomass is expected to be 13,000MW and through PSP (Pump Storage Plants) is expected to be 7446MW.

For 2031-32, the likely installed power-generation capacity is estimated to be 9,00,422 MW comprising of 3,04,147 MW of conventional capacity (coal-2,59,643 MW, gas–24,824MW, nuclear-19,680MW) and 596,275MW of renewable-based capacity (large hydro-62,178 MW, solar-3,64,566MW, wind-1,21,895MW, small hydro-5,450MW, biomass-15,500 MW, PSP-26,686MW; excluding 5,856 MW of likely hydro-based imports) along with BESS capacity of 47,244MW/2,36,220MWh.

"The projection of total capacity addition is in line with the target of the country to achieve a non-fossil-based installed capacity of around 500 GW by the year 2029-30. NEP envisages that the share of non-fossil-based capacity is likely to increase to 57.4% by the end of 2026-27 and may likely to further increase to 68.4% by the end of 2031-32 from around 42.5% as on April’2023," the ministry said.

The average PLF (plant load factor) of the total installed coal capacity of 235.1 GW is likely to be about 58.4% in 2026-27 and that of 259.6 GW of coal-based capacity is likely to be about 58.7% in 2031-32.

"As per the NEP projections, the energy storage capacity of 16.13 GW/82.37 GWh with PSP-based storage of 7.45 GW capacity and 47.65 GWh storage and BESS-based storage of 8.68 GW/ 34.72 GWh is required by the year 2026-27. The storage capacity requirement increases to 73.93 GW (26.69 GW PSP and 47.24 GW BESS) with storage of 411.4 GWh (175.18 GWh from PSP and 236.22 GWh from BESS) by the year 2031-32," the government said.

The domestic coal requirement has been estimated to be 866.4 million tonnes for the year 2026-27 and 1025.8 million tonnes for the year 2031-32 and an estimated requirement of 28.9 MT of coal imports for the plants designed to run on imported coal.

The total fund requirement for generation capacity addition for the period 2022-2027 is estimated to be ₹14,54,188 crore and for the period 2027-2032 has been estimated to be ₹19,06,406 crore.