As the government gears up to meet the requirement of power to every household in the country, the investment in power generation and transmission & distribution is bound to increase. This will throw open a window of opportunity for domestic power equipment manufacturers. In the last couple of years, the Government of India (GoI) has been taking transformative change in the power sector for achieving its ambitious target of providing affordable 24x7 power for all its citizens. It has taken several initiatives such as increasing private participation in the transmission segment, increasing contribution of renewables in the energy basket, developing the National Power Grid to boost growth in the T&D (transmission and distribution) industry, etc. Increase in power generation and transmission capability is likely to lead to fresh demand of about Rs 1 lakh crore for electrical equipment in the next four years.

Power for All leading to demand growth The demand for power in the country is set to rise, courtesy drive of the Government of India to enable power supply to every household in coming years. “We as a country have already crossed a per capita consumption of power from 1000 kWh and are placed further to gain upon same, however latent demand still being a factor to be adhered to. Having said that, India looks poised to cross the 350 GW in coming couple of years time ie by 2020 following which the demand for power equipment is certain and looks north bound,” says Ravi Shekhar, Partner & Head (Research & Consulting Division), Enincon Consulting LLP. Though power generation capacity will grow in the coming years, it is expected to be dominated by renewable sources of energy as India is bound by obligations under Paris Accord.

The country has ambitious plans to add 100 GW of solar & 60 GW wind power by 2022, which will indeed be rhetoric in terms of power equipment demand. On the conventional power front though the capacity additions pace have witnessed a slowdown from 2014-15 onwards. But given the economic growth paradigm of the country and growing base load demand, it is an imperative for the country to fall back on coal-based generation even if all the fresh installation come through supercritical technology owing to the climate deal. Such prolific capacity addition pace will have to be supported with adequate T&D infrastructure which is expected to grow to over $ 75 billion in 2022. “Besides, with dedicated infrastructure creation for green energy corridor (GEC) and subsequently smart grid programme, the demand for power equipment under T&D segment is further slated to get boosted.

It is pertinent to note that the power backup equipment market is also expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 30% and cross a market size of $ 7 billion by 2020,” says Shekhar.