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India has extremely poor electricity infrastructure. Outages are long and regular, electrical lines are old and flimsy. Every time there's even a small rain, th

India has extremely poor electricity infrastructure. Outages are long and regular, electrical lines are old and flimsy. Every time there's even a small rain, there's no electricity. It's so bad that while traveling in India, I've seen electrical lines burning multiple times. Also, India lacks its own energy sources and huge solar energy project was stopped by USA/WTO (because they were unhappy that India doesn't buy expensive solar panels from USA companies).

parimm 6y ago
The electricity infrastructure in the larger cities is not as bad as you mention. The infra is bad in the rural areas and the quality of infra varies greatly by the state.
- anticodon 6y ago
  I understand that nobody likes critics from foreigner. But I still stand by my point that infrastructure in India is among worst in the world. I haven't traveled the whole world, but traveled enough, and what I've seen in India is probably the worst I've seen. I was working remotely so I needed reliable electricity and Internet. I had problems with both in every city I visited (and I visited many, from New Delhi to Kanyakumari. Also, while traveling between cities on my motorcycle, I frequently saw powerlines burning or electrical poles burning in rural areas. Something I've never ever seen in any other country. Only in Nepal the situation with both is worse.
  - actuator 6y ago
    I don't think it is a foreigner thing. I have travelled a lot in India as well and I find your statement not representative of the actual ground situation. Infrastructure sure is not well done but the electricity bit is not true at least from what I have seen. If you are in a city like New Delhi/Mumbai, most homes/hotels do have reliable power. For rare cuts most have power through power backups. If you visit remote places, it is definitely worse. They have electrified a lot of places, but power is absent most of the times in the day. Some people rely on solar powered batteries for basic electrification at night. I have never seen a powerline burning though. In cities there are internet providers which do better than others, so it might have been your luck with some bad provider; but they are not even present in remote places. LTE based mobile internet has coverage problem in cities with pockets that get bad coverage, otherwise the provider 'Airtel' that I have used while traveling does seem to perform well in cities. Remote places have no coverage from LTE providers as well.
- LordAtlas 6y ago
  As someone who lives in an Indian metro, yes it definitely is that bad. Extremely unreliable and pops up at the hint of rain. The only exception to this is Mumbai.
  - lonesword 6y ago
    Edit: I misread your comment as "definitely NOT that bad". Turns out we are saying the same thing. Well, depends on the Metro. Chennai is notorious for power cuts. Delhi is supposed to be better - but I used to live in Noida (Part of NCR, but technically UP and not Delhi) and the power cuts were ridiculous - around 60-90 minutes without power every day (I was fortunate enough to have backup power where I stayed). My small hometown that was approx 25km outside Cochin in Kerala had far more reliable power supply. The point I'm trying to make - power supply varies greatly, and being a "tier 1 metro" does not always mean more reliable power than some obscure town you've never heard of.
kumarvvr 6y ago
> India has extremely poor electricity infrastructure Not true in most tier 1,2 & 3 cities. Somewhat true in rest of India. However, lack of an existing electricity infra, in my book counts as an opportunity to establish micro-grids and smaller storage based grids powered off renewable energy, especially solar.
- anticodon 6y ago
  Even the most advanced countries like Germany admit they lack necessary infrastructure for switching to 100% electrical vehicles. E.g. Germany lacks both the necessary power and infrastructure. And I'm almost sure that German electrical infrastructure is in much better shape compared to Indian. Renewable energy require several times bigger and expensive infrastructure costs because of unstable generation.
- srean 6y ago
  In Bangalore 2 hour power cuts happen fairly regularly, in Kolkata they are once in a blue moon.
tonyedgecombe 6y ago
>and huge solar energy project was stopped by USA/WTO Do you have a source for that because it sounds doubtful to me.
- anticodon 6y ago
  This has happened several years ago, so I don't even remember the name of the Indian project. But I was able to find some references: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/india-loses-wto-appeal-in-us-solar-dispute/articleshow/54367218.cms?from=mdr https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/i...

parimm 6y ago

The electricity infrastructure in the larger cities is not as bad as you mention. The infra is bad in the rural areas and the quality of infra varies greatly by the state.

anticodon 6y ago
I understand that nobody likes critics from foreigner. But I still stand by my point that infrastructure in India is among worst in the world. I haven't traveled the whole world, but traveled enough, and what I've seen in India is probably the worst I've seen. I was working remotely so I needed reliable electricity and Internet. I had problems with both in every city I visited (and I visited many, from New Delhi to Kanyakumari. Also, while traveling between cities on my motorcycle, I frequently saw powerlines burning or electrical poles burning in rural areas. Something I've never ever seen in any other country. Only in Nepal the situation with both is worse.
- actuator 6y ago
  I don't think it is a foreigner thing. I have travelled a lot in India as well and I find your statement not representative of the actual ground situation. Infrastructure sure is not well done but the electricity bit is not true at least from what I have seen. If you are in a city like New Delhi/Mumbai, most homes/hotels do have reliable power. For rare cuts most have power through power backups. If you visit remote places, it is definitely worse. They have electrified a lot of places, but power is absent most of the times in the day. Some people rely on solar powered batteries for basic electrification at night. I have never seen a powerline burning though. In cities there are internet providers which do better than others, so it might have been your luck with some bad provider; but they are not even present in remote places. LTE based mobile internet has coverage problem in cities with pockets that get bad coverage, otherwise the provider 'Airtel' that I have used while traveling does seem to perform well in cities. Remote places have no coverage from LTE providers as well.
LordAtlas 6y ago
As someone who lives in an Indian metro, yes it definitely is that bad. Extremely unreliable and pops up at the hint of rain. The only exception to this is Mumbai.
- lonesword 6y ago
  Edit: I misread your comment as "definitely NOT that bad". Turns out we are saying the same thing. Well, depends on the Metro. Chennai is notorious for power cuts. Delhi is supposed to be better - but I used to live in Noida (Part of NCR, but technically UP and not Delhi) and the power cuts were ridiculous - around 60-90 minutes without power every day (I was fortunate enough to have backup power where I stayed). My small hometown that was approx 25km outside Cochin in Kerala had far more reliable power supply. The point I'm trying to make - power supply varies greatly, and being a "tier 1 metro" does not always mean more reliable power than some obscure town you've never heard of.

kumarvvr 6y ago

> India has extremely poor electricity infrastructure Not true in most tier 1,2 & 3 cities. Somewhat true in rest of India. However, lack of an existing electricity infra, in my book counts as an opportunity to establish micro-grids and smaller storage based grids powered off renewable energy, especially solar.

anticodon 6y ago
Even the most advanced countries like Germany admit they lack necessary infrastructure for switching to 100% electrical vehicles. E.g. Germany lacks both the necessary power and infrastructure. And I'm almost sure that German electrical infrastructure is in much better shape compared to Indian. Renewable energy require several times bigger and expensive infrastructure costs because of unstable generation.
srean 6y ago
In Bangalore 2 hour power cuts happen fairly regularly, in Kolkata they are once in a blue moon.

tonyedgecombe 6y ago

>and huge solar energy project was stopped by USA/WTO Do you have a source for that because it sounds doubtful to me.

anticodon 6y ago
This has happened several years ago, so I don't even remember the name of the Indian project. But I was able to find some references: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/india-loses-wto-appeal-in-us-solar-dispute/articleshow/54367218.cms?from=mdr https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/i...