PATNA, June 25 -- Union minister of power and housing & urban affairs Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday said a nuclear power plant and a 1,000 MW battery storage capacity unit will be set up in Bihar, said a press release issued by the Information and Public Relations Department (IPRD) of Bihar on Tuesday. Bihar had demanded a nuclear power plant, besides allocation of 500 MW additional power to tide with the situation in summers. "We have asked states to set up at least one nuclear power plant in their respective states. Bihar has demanded a nuclear power plant and we have said that we will help Bihar in setting up a nuclear plant in the state," said Lal, while addressing newspersons on the sidelines of the one-day eastern region power ministers' conference where different aspects and problems relating to power sector being faced by states of eastern region that included Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and the Union territory of Andaman & Nicobar. Though he did not divulge the details which district the plant will be set up in Bihar and what will be its capacity in terms of megawatt, officials said it would be a small modular reactor plant of around 200 MW. Lal also said that a 1000 MW battery storage capacity unit will be set up in Bihar for which the central government will provide a viability gap funding (VGF) of Rs 18 lakh per MW, the IPRD release said. "We have given in principle approval to the proposal," the minister said, adding that it will depend on the generation of renewable energy. Lauding the reforms carried out by the Bihar government in the power sector, the Union minister said, "Bihar has done tremendous work in improving the distribution system. Bihar deserves kudos for carrying out power sector reforms especially for reducing aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses, besides installing a record 80 lakh smart meters." The union power ministry has agreed to Bihar government's demand for supply of additional 500 MW for next six months, the minister said, while assuring adequate supply of power to states from central quota if they face power shortage, the IPRD release added. The minister also underscored the importance of cybersecurity in the power sector and spoke about islanding schemes as effective measures to prevent power outages owing to cyber incidents and enable resilience of the grid. Stating that cyber security has become a big issue, Khattar said that nefarious designs to thwart power supply systems failed during "Operation Sindoor" and "our system remained intact." Giving the slogan of "power for all at all times', the Union minister said, "We have become a power surplus country. We are not only meeting our requirements but also exporting surplus power to countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and we export and import power from Nepal." Last year, the peak power demand was 250 GW in the country and it was expected that it will increase to 270 GW this year but so far the peak power demand has reached upto 242 GW, he said adding that it is expected that the power may increase further by September next. "Today, we are meeting the demand of power supply in the country as we have surplus power. But 10 years ago, in 2013-14, there was a power deficiency in the country. There was 4.5 per cent power shortage in the country," Lal said while asserting that it was, then, known as "power deficient" country. Earlier at the conference, Lal said the states should promote renewable energy, coupled with energy storage systems, in order to ensure reliability of supply of power, said a press release issued by the PIB. He said India was moving towards having an increased share of renewable energy and the same had increased from 32% in 2014 to 49% in April 2025. He also highlighted the national ambition to achieve 100 GW of nuclear energy by 2047 and requested the states for reinforced implementation of renewable purchase obligation (RPO) mandates and form dedicated teams for such critical planning, the release said. The minister emphasised that states should work towards resolving issues faced in development of intra-state transmission projects, including right of way (RoW) issues....