Green Energy Push: 18,000 CNG Stations To Be Commissioned By 2030

In a move aimed at raising the share of natural gas in the country’s energy mix, the Union government has decided that 18,000 compressed natural gas (CNG) stations would be set up in the country by 2030.

This was stated by Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Rameswar Teli while addressing the 25^th Energy Technology Meet, organised by the Centre for High Technology (CHT), under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, in Mumbai on Thursday (15 September). 

The announcement assumes significance, considering the fact that the country had a total of 4,629 CNG stations at the end of July 2022. As a part of its short-term strategy, the Centre is planning to take this number to 8,000 in the next two years, which translates to 3,500 new CNG stations in the next two years.

Increasing the number of CNG stations in the country is a key component of expanding the share of natural gas in India’s primary energy mix from 6.2 per cent to 15 per cent by year 2030 to usher in a gas-based economy.

Ramping Up

In 2014, the country had only 938 CNG stations. The number of CNG stations commissioned by various authorised entities has increased to 3,878 on 31 January 2022 and 4,629 on 30 July 2022.

A record total of 1,332 CNG stations, the highest ever, were commissioned in the financial year 2021-22.

In the current fiscal year 2022-23, 166 CNG stations were inaugurated on 15 July 2022.

The 166 CNG stations have been set up by GAIL (India) Limited and nine of its group City Gas Distribution (CGD) companies across 14 states.

Poor Coverage

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas in its report has praised the government for making good progress in making CNG stations operational across the country.

The report noted that Delhi and Mumbai have adequate number of CNG stations mainly due to the IGL and MGL operating in these areas.

However, the report flagged poor penetration of CNG stations in most of the other cities where CGD is operational.

The committee observed that with sparse network of CNG stations, the people in these cities have not been able to get the full benefit of CNG for their requirement.

The committee, therefore, recommended that all the stations planned in CGD bidding rounds be made fully operational in a way  that leads to widespread and equitable and balanced network across the geographical areas rather than concentrate in a few select metro areas.