Special Anniversary Issue

Through the years, Power Line has profiled the top leaders and decision-makers in the power sector; people across public and private organisations who have played a defining role in this space. Our conversations with them […]

The Journey So Far: Timeline of events over the past 25 years

The power sector’s journey over the past 25 years has been marked by several key events. From the passage of the path-breaking Electricity Act in 2003 to the floating of the draft Electricity Amendment Bill, […]

25 Events that Shaped the Sector: Change in the making

Power Line recalls the 25 most crucial events that changed the sector over the years. Events that ushered in path-breaking reforms, marked the commissioning of world-class projects, introduced and scaled up private participation, created key […]

Interview with Uddesh Kohli: “Discom privatisation should be ensured as early as possible”

Power sector veteran Dr Uddesh Kohli, former chairman, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and former adviser, Planning Commission, feels that the power sector has come a long way over the past two and a half decades. […]

Big Benefits: Harnessing the small-hydro potential

September 23, 2021

By , Former CMD, PTC India Limited and PTC Financial Services After setting ambitious targets for solar energy development, the government also turned its attention to harnessing small-hydro projects, aiming and planning to set up […]

Rapid Progress: Major developments in the Indian power sector

September 23, 2021

On January 7, 1897, Kilburn & Co. secured the electricity licence in Calcutta as agents of the Indian Electric Co., which was registered in London on January 15, 1897. A month later, the company was re-named the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation. […]

A Success Story: How distribution privatisation turned the national capital into a global city

September 23, 2021

Circa 2002 Delhi – Numerous power cuts… Prolonged load shedding for nearly six hours at a stretch… Poor quality of power… Over 500 transformer blowouts a month… Gensets and stabilisers in every house… Hopeless customer care… Massive aggregate […]

Utilities of the Future: Need for a paradigm change

A paradigm shift is being seen today in the energy and utility space, which has made it mandatory for utilities in the distribution segment to either step up to embrace the change, or become obsolete and get substituted by a new player. […]

Efforts to Decarbonise: Changing the status quo in energy systems

In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly set 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) intended to be achieved by the year 2030. A short six years on, we are at an inflection point where some of the goals laid down stand seriously challenged. Most of the goals are deeply interlinked. Slipping on one often leads to losing ground on others. […]

Failed Expectations: Collapse of the dispute resolution mechanism

By P.N. Bhandari, Former Chairman, Rajasthan State Electricity Board, and Advocate, Rajasthan High Court The long-awaited amendments to the Electricity Act, 2003 have unfortunately been stuck in Parliament due to the diffidence of the Power […]

Perform and Transform: Time to introduce outcome-based reforms for discoms

Atmanirbhar Bharat presupposes a robust and sustainable power supply system to accelerate progress. Power sector reforms in India started along with the liberalisation of the economy with the objectives of ensuring security of supply, efficiency improvement and cost recovery. India has done extremely well on two subsequently added goals of universal electrification and decarbonisation of the power sector. […]

Serving the Unserved: Strong business case for decentralised generation and distribution

It is a well-known fact that despite all the advancements, a large percentage of the population of the world is still unserved when it comes to power supply. According to data published by the World Bank, 1.3 billion people around the world lack access to power. More than 600 million of them are in sub-Saharan Africa and more than 300 million are in India alone. One out of every five people around the world without adequate access to power lives in India. […]

Back in the Reckoning: Hydro receives much-needed attention

India is the world’s third largest producer and consumer of electricity. The national electric grid has an installed capacity of 388.134 GW as of August 31, 2021. Renewable power plants, which also include large hydroelectric plants, constitute 37 per cent of India’s total installed capacity. […]

Solving Tomorrow’s Challenges: Need to change entire systems

Climate change will be mankind’s most pressing challenge in the coming decades. For India, decarbonisation of the electricity sector is paramount because of the disproportional role of electricity in the economy. […]

A Discom’s Journey: NDPL’s experience and lessons learnt

Power distribution operations in Delhi were privatised in July 2002. The Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) was taken over by three 51:49 joint ventures (JVs) with the Delhi government-Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (then North Delhi Power Limited or NDPL), which services an area of 510 square km that is one-third of Delhi, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited and BSES Yamuna Power Limited of the ADAG Reliance Group, which cover the remaining area. […]

Interview with Prashant Jain: “Reliable power is a reality now”