Government plans to revamp Delhi’s power network as peak demand likely to touch 11,000 MW by 2030
Aim is to deliver reliable, economical, safe, quality power supply in next four years: Minister
“The aim behind the master plan or the ‘Mission 2030’ is to deliver reliable, economical, safe and quality power supply to every citizen for 24*7*365 days in the next four years,” Sood said.
With Delhi’s peak power demand expected to touch 11,000 MW in the next four years, the government is working on a comprehensive Delhi Power Master Plan 2030 to strengthen the Capital’s power distribution network, reduce power cuts per consumer per year from 3 to 1, bring down average outage duration from 2 hours to 1 hours and minimise transformer breakdowns across the city.
According to an official document, by 2030, with the expansion of the Metro network and push for electric vehicles (EVs) and other facilities requiring power demand, the projected accelerated growth, however, is 13,114 MW.
“Keeping in mind the accelerated growth in power demand, we have to be ready and prepared for future considering the expansion of Metro network, upcoming health centres and the government’s pushing for EVs and charging infrastructure…The previous government, despite being in power for over a decade, did nothing to upgrade the city’s power infrastructure,” said the Power Minister Ashish Sood.
He said that under ‘Mission 2030’, a one year master plan for 2025-26 has already been prepared and another comprehensive plan for the next three years is being made. The revamp plan is estimated to cost around Rs 17,000 crore.
“The aim behind the master plan or the ‘Mission 2030’ is to deliver reliable, economical, safe and quality power supply to every citizen for 24*7*365 days in the next four years,” Sood said.
He said the master plan will focus on upgradation of electricity network across all the 70 constituencies to provide round-the-clock power with stable voltage, fast restoration in case of faults, advance outage alerts, undergrounding on busy corridors, safe pillar boxes, reliable earthing and grid built for uptake of government’s EV policies, schemes like PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, with reliable capacity at homes, communities and public charging points. “Providing smart digital services to provide quick new connections, upgrades, and transparent bills via smart meters are also on the cards,” said the minister.
The aim is to also reduce the time taken to restore electricity from 45 minutes to 30 minutes and transformer breakdowns from 0.53% to 0.25%.
Explaining the significance of the master plan, Sood said, “Years of underinvestment have impacted reliability, safety and power quality…To address this, we have to upgrade the infrastructure, increase grid capacity to support rising demand, strengthen the distribution backbone and last-mile network.”
Sood said in several areas, such as Uttam Nagar, Nangloi, and parts of Trans-Yamuna, wirings old wirings pose big risk.
Under ‘Mission 2030’, the government aims to convert overhead lines to underground ones and High Voltage Distribution Systems to low-voltage ones in priority corridors and modernise operations and deploy non-wire alternations for better solution and public safety. “This will also prevent power theft,” said the minister.
Officials said that the projected rise in power demand will put the existing, old distribution infrastructure under stress.
Share
