Top five states in India with highest installed electricity generation capacity

India is the world’s fifth largest electricity generator with total installed capacity of 2,28,722 MW. Out of this, 90,062 MW is from state owned utilities, 72,927 MW is from privately owned utilities and 65,733 MW is from central owned utilities. The pace of investment from private players is considerable which shows an encouraging environment for the electricity sector.

India’s energy demand has been growing rapidly in the last two decades. This demand has been boosted by industrial growth as well as a rise in household consumption. On the other hand, supply of energy too has grown but has been outstripped by demand. India derives most of its electricity from fossil fuels; primarily from coal (India has 20,381 MW of capacity on coal which is 59% of total capacity). India also derives considerable amount of electricity from hydropower sources.

Please check – Over 45% of India’s Operational Hydropower Capacity is in the Northern States. 

Currently, India has total 1,55,969 MW of installed capacity on thermal, 39,788 MW of installed capacity on hydro, 28,184 MW of installed capacity on Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and  4,780 MW of installed capacity on nuclear. Thermal sources contribute 68% in the total capacity. Read more on Top five states in India with highest renewable energy capacity.

The top five states with highest installed electricity generation capacity are given below;

The state of Maharashtra is at the top position in installed electricity generation capacity in India. By Sep 2013, Maharashtra has 31,934 MW of installed capacity. The state of Gujarat is in the second position with 26,126 MW of installed electricity generation capacity followed by Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The detailed breakup of the total installed capacity is given below;

Capacity in MW (As on Sep 2013);

Sector wise breakup is given below (Capacity in MW);

The state of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are highly industrialized. Therefore, their electricity demand is also higher than other states. If we compare total installed electricity generation capacity with the population of respective states, then following results are arrived at;

Source for population data: Census 2011

The state of Gujarat is at the top position in per capita installed electricity generation capacity followed by Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

All these five states contribute towards 48% of installed electricity generation capacity of the entire country.

Reference: Central Electricity Authority (Sep 2013)