Meeting On “Fuelling South India’s Energy Growth”
Ahmed Abdul Rahman Buhari, president and CEO of Coal and Oil Group of Companies at a session organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Southern India Engineering Manufacturers’ Association in Coimbatore. South India will be one of the two engines of India’s growth, next only to the Western part of the country, according to Ahmed A.R. Buhari, Founder President and Chief Executive Officer of Coal and Oil Group of Companies.Speaking at a meeting on “Fuelling South India’s Energy Growth”, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Southern India Engineering Manufacturers’ Association, here on Wednesday, he said that India was re-emerging as a super power. In the 1000s India’s share in the global GDP was 36 per cent. In the 1800s it was 16 per cent and 5 per cent in the 1950s. Currently, it was about 8.5 per cent and rapidly increasing.
India and China were the drivers of global growth. The global growth in 2008 was about 2.5 per cent and it was predicted to be 0.9 per cent in 2009. Next year, India would be the fastest growing economy. India had a long way to go in power capacities. The demand for power was growing at eight to 10 per cent and about $ 600 billion investment was needed over the next 10 years in the sector. The government targeted 78,000 MW installations between 2006-2007 and 2011-2012. With the feel good factor and investments, South India would be a key driver for India’s growth. It would need more power and the shortfall in Tamil Nadu was expected to be about 3,300 MW by 2011.
K. Kasthurirangaian, chairman of the Indian Wind Power Association, said with all villages in the State electrified and more industries investing, the State required more power. While the energy consumption rate was growing rapidly, generation was not. Of the total installed capacity in Tamil Nadu, 657 MW was nuclear, 2093 MW was hydel, 4379 MW was wind and the rest was thermal. Though several power projects were proposed to augment generation, it remained to be seen how many would materialise.
