India Now Third Largest Electricity Producer In The World, Beats Out Russia And Japan

According to a report in the Business Standard, India has overtaken Russia and Japan in terms of electricity production and currently ranks as the third highest producer and consumer in the world after China and the United States of America.

The renewable energy sector continued to display the highest rate of growth with the report estimating a 22.6 per cent growth in capacity addition over a ten year period up till Financial Year 2017. However, the share of renewable energy in the total electricity production mix continues to hover around the 18.79 per cent mark with thermal energy contributing 65 per cent of installed capacity.

The government has set ambitious targets for capacity addition with a target of 100 gigawatt (GW) by 2022 which equals the power production by the United Kingdom. Statistics released by the report show that the production of electricity grew at an annual rate of 7 per cent in the period 2010-2017.

It is expected that a rising per-capita income combined with increasing electricity penetration should continue to drive the sector’s growth. A 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) permit in the sector has led to increased foreign inflows and the same should help India scale up its power production in the coming years.