India grapples with energy issues

India needs to act fast. More than half of its power plants are either shut or running at half their capacity because of a coal shortage. Most of India’s power plants are coal-based.

According to government estimates, India’s dependence on crude-oil import will rise by 86.3% by 2011-12 from 78.3% at present (2006-07).

New Delhi has estimated a loss of 400 million units of power from 43 gas-based plants, due to an acute shortage of gas, which could be addressed once pipelines are in place from the Krishna-Godavari basin, the site of several recent gas finds. India’s power industry suffers an average shortage of 8% and a peak shortage of 13%.
Asia Times