Singh is back, and so is nuclear energy. (I’m sure the Arevas and GEs of the world were praying that Congress wins). The Indian government is likely to push for new generation capacity for the world’s second-fastest growing major economy.
The coalition had said in its pre-election manifesto it will add between 12,000 to 15,000 megawatts of power each year in its five-year term, via a mix of coal, hydro-electricity, nuclear and renewable sources. Now, let’s do a bit of math. This would mean about 60,000 MW added in the next five years. The current installed capacity for all sources together is about 150,000 MW. Add 60 GW from all these, and you get 210 GW by 2015. If this can be achieved, India might be just about able to meet the demand, which is likely to be about 210-230 GW (I’m calculating this based on data here and taking into account 10% energy losses).
We at EAI will keep a constant eye on the nuclear energy scene in India. One is assured of a lot of action during the next few months.
