Addressing the growing divide between India's power demand and supply during the World Innovation Summit and Expo in Mumbai Wednesday, Patil said the country should pursue all available fuel options and forms of energy, whether conventional, non-conventional, new or emerging.

"It is time now for an energy revolution that will ensure our energy security," she said, Press Trust of India reports.

Figures from the federal Planning Commission show that India faces a 12 percent power shortfall during hours of peak consumption.

Energy should be available to sustain the country's growth and meet the aspirations of its people, Patil said, adding that the growth in demand for electricity has overtaken generation capacity.

"The capacity addition requires augmentation of manufacturing capacity of power equipment, skilled manpower and adoption of modern project management practices," she said.

Excerpts from a new report from the International Energy Agency, scheduled for release Nov. 9, show that nearly 404 million Indians don't have access to electricity, the Financial Times reports. India isn't expected to be fully electrified until 2030 and needs 245 electricity grids to do so, the IEA report states.

Kandeh Yumkella, director general of the U.N. Industrial Development Organization, told the Financial Times that even among those who do have electricity, many have just 100 kilowatts an hour per person per year, enough only for lights to function.

"They need at least 600 to 700 kilowatts an hour so that productivity can be enhanced, gross domestic product can increase and India can become more competitive," he said.

Indian New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah said Wednesday that up to 10,000 remote villages across the country would be electrified with renewable energy sources by March 2012, The Hindu newspaper reports.

Most of the power is expected to come from the first 1,000 megawatts added to the national grid as part of the country's national solar mission, announced last November, which aims to increase solar power to 20,000 megawatts by 2022.

India, Asia's third-largest energy consumer and the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, relies on coal for more than half of its power capacity. India's Prayas Energy Group says that nearly 1-10th of the country's installed electricity capacity comes from renewable sources, mostly wind power.

earlier related report
Shanghai Electric, India's Reliance in power generation deal
Shanghai (AFP) Oct 28, 2010 - Shanghai Electric Group on Thursday signed a contract worth 8.3 billion dollars to provide power generation equipment and service to India's Reliance ADA Group.

The Chinese firm will sell 36 coal-fired super-critical thermal power generation units as well as spare parts and service to Reliance over more than 10 years, according to a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The Indian firm signed memoranda of understanding worth 12 billion dollars with Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China to cover the financing.

"This indicates the Indian market is open to China," New Delhi's ambassador to Beijing, S. Jaishankar, said, describing the deal as "landmark".

Reliance ADA Group chairman Anil Ambani said Shanghai Electric would explore the possibility of setting up manufacturing facilities in India.

The deal was announced after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said there were "enormous possibilities" to work with China, playing down simmering tensions between the giant Asian neighbours.

The Indian premier is on a three-day visit to Malaysia after a trip to Japan, where New Delhi agreed to provide a stable supply of rare earths to Tokyo amid Japanese claims that China is disrupting shipments of the minerals.

Earlier this year, India blocked deals between Indian companies and Chinese telecom equipment vendors due to fears that equipment could be vulnerable to hackers or be compromised by Chinese intelligence agents. The ban was later relaxed.

Shanghai Electric said it expected to deliver three to four units each year, bringing it annual revenue of up to 600 million dollars, or seven percent of the firm's total revenue for 2009.

India's installed power capacity per capita is only a quarter of that of China, and Reliance ADA will sell the electricity to central, southern and western parts of India that are seriously short of supply, it said.

The two firms previously set up several joint ventures including a three-billion-dollar venture making power equipment in India.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Shanghai Electric gained 4.3 percent to 4.25 Hong Kong dollars (55 US cents) in the afternoon session while its Shanghai-listed shares were down two percent at 10.05 yuan (1.5 US dollars).

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