Manohar Lal Khattar takes charge as Power Minister. What challenges are on his plate?

New Delhi: Manohar Lal took charge as Union Minister for Power in addition to his existing portfolio of Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs at Shram Shakti Bhawan on Tuesday. Power Secretary Pankaj Agarwal, along with the senior officials of the ministry, welcomed the newly-appointed Union Minister.

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The former Minister of Power, RK Singh, extended a warm welcome to his successor. The Minister of State (MoS) in the Ministry of Power, Shripad Yesso Naik, was also present on the occasion.

The Union Minister was briefed by senior officials of the Minister of Power and after taking the charge, he also took a review meeting regarding the power supply position in the country. According to sources who spoke to PSU Watch, during a review meeting chaired by Khattar on Tuesday, the minister discussed the power supply situation, transmission and capacity addition planned by the government.

Priority areas for new Power Minister

Khattar, who has previously served as the Chief Minister of Haryana, takes over the reigns of the Power Ministry at a time when the peak power demand has been hitting record highs, with the highest figure recorded at 250 GW on May 30. Since the peak power demand has already surpassed the Power Ministry’s projections for May and June — the power ministry projected a peak power demand of 235 GW during daytime and 225 GW during evening hours for May and 240 GW during daytime and 235 GW during evening hours for June 2024 — overseeing and managing the availability of power will be one of the first challenges that Khattar will have to tackle as Minister for Power.

The second issue will be that of power capacity addition. The Central government has plans to add 80 GW of thermal power capacity by 2032 in order to meet the consistently rising power demand. Expansion of the power transmission network to integrate 500 GW of Renewable Energy (RE), that India plans to put in place by 2030, is another area which the new Union Minister will focus on during his tenure.

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