India needs $37.26b to meet 234GW peak load by 2022: report

The private sector is expected to play a vital role as competitive bidding gains momentum.

An estimated $37.26b (IND2.6t) investment is required in India’s transmission sector to meet future peak load which could reach 234GW by 2021-2022, according to the Power Transmission in India 2019 report.

The private sector is also expected to play an important role in achieving the country's grid expansion targets as competitive bidding gains momentum at both interstate and intra-state levels.

India's power transmission sector witnessed unprecedented growth in the past five years, with line length and transformer capacity growing at an average annual growth rate of 6.5% and 9.6%, respectively. Further, both operational and financial performances of the transmission utilities witnessed an improvement in the past few years, the report highlighted.

It also noted that several grid expansion programmes such as the GEC and cross-border links are underway to expand the physical grid infrastructure. Further, transmission utilities, at the central and state level, are expected to invest significantly in new technologies to make grids more reliable, resilient, secure and smart.

The sector is also expected to immensely benefit from major policy reforms including the Electricity Act amendments and the Tariff Policy amendments.