New Delhi: The Union government on Tuesday urged all states to consider developing at least one nuclear power plant each as part of India’s long-term strategy to build a balanced, diversified, and sustainable energy mix. The direction came during the Eastern Region Power Ministers’ Conference held in Patna, chaired by Union Minister for Power Manohar Lal Khattar.
“While formulating their Resource Adequacy Plans, states should also ensure a balanced and diversified power generation mix. This should include the addition of nuclear generation capacity, with an aim to establish at least one nuclear power project in each state,” Khattar said.
The minister emphasised that nuclear energy would play a central role in helping India achieve its national target of 100 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2047. “Meeting the projected peak electricity demand of 446 GW by 2034–35 sustainably requires proactive planning and continued coordination between the Centre, States, and other stakeholders,” the Ministry of Power said in a statement summarising the conference deliberations.
India successfully met peak power demands of 250 GW in May 2024 and 242 GW so far this year. The demand is expected to rise to 270 GW later in 2025. Khattar said this reflects the transformation of India from a power-deficit nation to a power-sufficient one, and called for a modern, financially viable power system to fuel future economic growth.
He said the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047 requires continuous Centre-state cooperation to plan capacity additions and maintain grid stability. “Our power system has evolved into a unified national grid, fulfilling the vision of ‘One Nation-One Grid’,” the minister said.
To address rising demand, the Ministry of Power urged states to resolve issues delaying intra-state transmission projects, including right-of-way (RoW) constraints, and explore financing options such as listing transmission utilities or raising funds from multilateral institutions. It also pointed to the Rs 1.5-lakh-crore allocation in the Union Budget 2025–26 as a source of interest-free, long-term capital to strengthen state-level power infrastructure.
India’s share of renewable energy in its installed generation capacity mix has increased from 32 percent in 2014 to 49 percent as of April 2025. The minister asked states to reinforce their implementation of Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPO) and to promote the integration of renewable energy with storage systems.
“States should promote renewable energy coupled with energy storage systems in order to ensure reliability of supply of power,” Khattar said. He also urged states to form dedicated planning teams to oversee this integration.
The minister said states must expedite the installation of prepaid smart meters, especially in government establishments, as part of reforms under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS). “Prepaid smart meters are a way to ensure timely release of Government department dues,” the minister said, adding that installation across government colonies must be completed by August 2025 and for high-load commercial and industrial consumers by November 2025.
Smart meters, it said, also offer opportunities to improve consumer experience using AI/ML-enabled data analytics.
The power sector needs an estimated investment of Rs 42 lakh crore by 2032, the ministry said in the statement, but challenges such as non-cost-reflective tariffs, delayed subsidy payments, and poor billing and collection continue to hamper the financial health of distribution utilities.
Khattar urged states to work with their Electricity Regulatory Commissions to ensure cost-reflective tariffs and timely issuance of tariff and true-up orders. “Losses of utilities today add to the cost of power for consumers and also deteriorate delivery of services to consumers,” he said.
Cybersecurity and grid resilience were also flagged as key priorities. The ministry encouraged states to adopt power islanding schemes to prevent cascading grid failures and maintain power to critical infrastructure in case of cyberattacks or major disruptions.
It also highlighted the role of disaster-resilient infrastructure and encouraged states to tap into the Rs 6,284 crore sanctioned under RDSS and other central schemes for building robust, climate-resilient energy systems.
The Union Minister of State for Power and Renewable Energy, Shripad Yesso Naik, called for expedited implementation of central schemes including the PM-KUSUM programme, which is to be completed by December 2025, and the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana aimed at expanding rooftop solar adoption.
Power Secretary Pankaj Agarwal said that it is crucial to ensure necessary power generation capacities are tied-up as per the resource adequacy plans for up to FY35 in order to meet future power demand. It is also imperative to make necessary arrangements for development of Inter- and Intra-state transmission capacities through various available financing models including Tariff Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB), Regulated Tariff Mechanism (RTM), leveraging the support for infrastructure provided under Budget 2025-2026 or through monetisation of existing assets, he added.
