Eliminating electricity deficit through energy efficiency in India: an evaluation of aggregate economic and carbon benefits
Electricity demand has consistently exceeded available supply in India. While the electricity deficit varies across states, nationally it was estimated to be of the order of 12% on peak and 11% for electricity during 2008-09. This paper explores a demand-side focused potential for energy efficiency improvement to eliminate the electricity deficit compared to a business as usual (BAU) supply-side focused scenario. The limited
availability of finance and other legal and administrative barriers have constrained the construction of new power plant capacity in India. As a result, under the BAU scenario, India continues to face an electricity deficit beyond the end of the Twelfth Five Year Plan. The demand-side cost-effective potential achieved through replacement of new electricity-using products, however, is large enough to eliminate the deficit as early as
2013 and subsequently reduce the future construction of power plants and thus reduce air pollutant emissions.