Parliament has passed the new Electricity Act, 2003 which consolidates and replaces a number of earlier legislations in respect of electricity. This Act will compel the State Electricity Boards to purchase certain percentages of power, as may be determined from time to time, produced by renewable sources and is expected to boost generation of electricity from renewable sources of energy like wind.
India is the only country in the world with a ministry - the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES), established exclusively to regulate the development of renewable energies for national development.
The all India installed capacity of electricity power generation is 1,23,462 MW as of 2005. According to the Central Electric Authority (CEA), in fiscal year 2005, the energy shortage in India was approximately 7.3 per cent and the peak deficit was at 11.7 per cent.
