National Electricity Plan
Also called: NEP · Topic: Energy Resources of India: Conventional and Non-conventional · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The National Electricity Plan (NEP) is India's long-term plan for electricity. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the country's main technical body for power, prepares it under the Electricity Act 2003. The plan estimates how much electricity India will need in the coming years. It then works out how much new generation is needed, such as coal, hydro, solar, wind and nuclear power. It also covers storage and transmission (the power lines that carry electricity across the country). Governments, power companies and investors use it to decide what to build and when.
Example
The NEP shows how India plans to store solar and wind power. The CEA expects India to need about 73.93 GW of energy storage by 2031–32. Of this, 26.69 GW would come from pumped storage projects, which store power by pumping water to an upper reservoir. The other 47.24 GW would come from battery energy storage systems. This is part of India's push towards 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030.
Don't confuse with
- National Electricity Policy: this is the Union Government's broad policy statement for the power sector. The National Electricity Plan is the CEA's detailed technical plan, and it is prepared in line with that policy.