New Delhi: India expects an additional power load of 26.3 GW from artificial intelligence (AI) data centres by 2031-32, and the load is to be met largely from renewable energy, Minister of State for Power Shripad Naik told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply on July 27. The projection is "expected to be integrated into the grid and primarily served by renewable energy capacity," Naik said.
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The estimate comes from the midterm review of the 20th Electric Power Survey (EPS), the five-yearly demand assessment the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) is required to conduct under the Electricity Act, 2003.
The same review projects the country's peak demand rising to 388 GW by FY2031-32 from 289 GW in FY2026-27, Naik said, which he attributed to "increasing industrialisation, urbanisation and electrification." The government expects an annual growth of about 5.5 to 6.6 percent across the intervening years, according to data shared by the minister in the House.
On whether grid investment is keeping pace with generation, Naik said transmission is being developed "in a phased manner, commensurate with the growing electricity demand and planned generation capacity addition, including renewable energy." The National Electricity Plan envisages transmission investment of about Rs 9,16,142 crore over the 2022-32 plan period, he said.
He said 154 inter-state transmission system (ISTS) projects, comprising 39,792 circuit km (ckm) of lines and 4,01,510 MVA of transformation capacity, are under construction, alongside intra-state projects of 220 kV and above totalling 30,387 ckm and 1,18,194 MVA. Grid-modernisation measures including static synchronous compensators (STATCOMs), battery storage and synchronous condensers are also being planned to support renewable integration, he added.
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Addressing whether fossil capacity is growing faster than renewables, Naik said that from FY2023-24 to June 2026, thermal coal-based capacity addition was about 21,080 MW, while renewable energy addition including large hydro was 1,16,487 MW — comprising 95,372 MW of solar, 14,810 MW of wind, 5,130 MW of large hydro, 229 MW of small hydro and 946 MW of biomass and others.
Naik said the share of non-fossil-fuel sources rose from 43.0 percent to 54.2 percent over the period. He said India had met its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) goal of sourcing 50 percent of installed power capacity from non-fossil sources "five years ahead of the committed timeline of 2030," with the non-fossil share at about 54.2 percent as on June 30, 2026, which he described as "an outcome of a coherent whole of government approach."
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