India to spend $21.6 billion on smart grids

• 9 years ago (2015-01-21)
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India is forecast to spend $21.6 billion over the period 2015-2025, according to a new study published  by Northeast Group, LLC.

The country is looking to smart grid infrastructure to help tackle electricity theft and improve reliability. According to Northeast Group, theft costs the Indian power sector $16.2 billion per year.

“India loses more money to theft than any other country in the world,” said Ben Gardner, President of Northeast Group. “The state of Maharashtra – which includes Mumbai – alone loses $2.8 billion per year, more than all but eight countries in the world. Nationally, total transmission and distribution losses approach 23 per cent and some states’ losses exceed 50 per cent. Most Indian utilities are financially unsustainable."

India’s government has already committed billions of dollars to smart grid infrastructure. In November 2014, Prime Minister Modi announced $4 billion in funding for smart metering programmes. Additionally, over $8 billion is available for loss reduction programmes and dozens of projects are now underway across the country’s 29 states.

According to Northeast Group' s India’s electricity demand growth is set to exceed 7 per cent per year over the next decade. It says overall power sector investment will include adding 43 million new electricity connections and nearly 3 million km of new circuits.