1.8 ENERGY SCENARIO OF INDIA 1.8.1 Current Energy Situation India does not have a good fossil fuel-based energy reservoir. India has only coal in relatively large quantity. India’s per capita energy consumption is about 600 kWh/year while the consumption rate is much higher for theEDA Renewable Energy Technologies: A Practical Guide for Beginners developed countries like USA, Canada, etc. (in the range of 12000 to 15000, kWh/capita/year). Therefore, it is very clear that India’s energy consumption is very less. Among the total energy consumption, commercial sources of energy (coal, petroleum, electricity) are only 50% of the total energy consumption in India. Many non-commercial sources like fuel wood, agricultural waste and animal dung constitute other 50% of the total energy consumption in India. At the current rate of consumption and production, coal and oil reserves in India would last for about 100 to 120 and 20 to 25 years Tespectively. India is currently ranked fifth in the world in terms of total installed electricity generation capacity. Net power generation capacity of India till 2006 was 124,287 MW. The distribution for total installed power capacity of India is given in Table 1.7. TABLE 1.7 India’s current energy scenario Fuel lp Capacity (MW) Percentage Total thermal Coal 69616 54.1 Gas 13582 10.6 Oil 1202 0.9 Total thermal 84400 65.5 Hydro 33942 26.5 Nuclear 3900 3.0 Renewable energy 6191 4.8 : Total 128432 100 ion (Source: Ministry of Power, India, 2006) y