Centre Establishes Monitoring Group To Track 80 GW Thermal Capacity Addition By 2032

The Power Ministry has established the Thermal Power Monitoring Group (TPMG) to monitor the progress of upcoming thermal power plants (TPPs) in the country.

This is crucial as the ministry aims to add 80 gigawatts (GW) of thermal capacity by financial year 2032 (FY32) to meet the nation’s power requirements. The peak power demand is expected to reach 366 GW by 2032, up from 240 GW in 2023.

As of February 2024, India has a total thermal installed capacity of 243.21 GW of which 210.96 GW is the installed capacity of coal and the rest from lignite, diesel and gas.

Union Power Minister R K Singh approved the constitution of an eight-member independent TPMG to conduct site inspections and provide assessment of each site of the thermal power project under implementation by a central or state utility and independent power producers (IPPs).

As per the order issued by the ministry, the TPMG will be headed by the Central Electricity Authority’s (CEA) member (Thermal) and will include senior officers from the CEA.

Under the the terms of reference, the members will conduct site inspection of the project area to observe first-hand progress made by the project developers and based on their assessment, will submit a progress report to the group.

The TPMG will compare the progress report with the progress being reported by project proponents directly to the CEA. Based on both, the authority will submit a realistic position about the progress during the regular capacity addition review meetings.