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Curriculum India's Power Sector

India's Power Sector

How electricity reaches Indian homes: generation, coal and renewables, transmission, the troubled distribution companies, tariffs, theft, rooftop solar, storage and reforms.

  1. From Power Plant to Plug The three parts of India's electricity system - generation, transmission and distribution - and who owns and regulates each part. 📄 Read-aloud
  2. Coal: India's Workhorse Fuel Why coal still generates most of India's electricity, the role of Coal India, and the tension between reliable supply and pollution. 📄 Read-aloud
  3. India's Solar and Wind Boom How India rapidly expanded solar and wind capacity through auctions and falling costs, and the 500 GW non-fossil target for 2030. 📄 Read-aloud
  4. Why Discoms Lose Money The reasons India's electricity distribution companies run up losses - underpricing, theft, poor billing and unpaid subsidies - and why it matters for everyone. 📄 Read-aloud
  5. How Electricity Tariffs Work How your electricity bill is calculated with slabs, fixed charges and cross-subsidies, and why industries often pay more than households. 📄 Read-aloud
  6. Free Power for Farms and the Groundwater Link How free or cheap electricity for farm pumps supports farmers but encourages groundwater over-use, and ideas like solar pumps and separate feeders. 📄 Read-aloud
  7. India's Power Sector: Checkpoint 1 Quick checkpoint - five questions on the power chain, coal, renewables, discoms and tariffs. 5 questions
  8. Smart Meters and Prepaid Power How smart meters measure electricity use in real time, why India plans to install hundreds of millions of them, and the debates over prepaid electricity. 📄 Read-aloud
  9. Buying Power on an Exchange How India's power exchanges let discoms and companies buy electricity in short-term markets, and how prices swing with demand and supply. 📄 Read-aloud
  10. Rooftop Solar and PM Surya Ghar How households can generate their own solar power, how net metering works, and India's 2024 scheme to put solar on one crore homes. 📄 Read-aloud
  11. Storing Electricity: Batteries and Pumped Hydro Why storing electricity is key to using more solar and wind, and the economics of batteries and pumped hydro storage in India. 📄 Read-aloud
  12. The Cost of Power Cuts How unreliable electricity hurts businesses, students and households, why firms buy diesel generators, and how reliability has improved. 📄 Read-aloud
  13. Fixing the Power Sector The reforms debated for India's power sector - discom privatisation, tariff reform, competition and grid upgrades - and a recap of the module. 📄 Read-aloud

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