Power minister says needs $250 billion over five years to meet energy needs

New Delhi: Power minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday $250 billion of investment was needed over the next five years if the country was to meet an expected doubling of energy consumption and provide power for all its 1.2 billion people.

Goyal, who estimated India's total power consumption would double to 2 trillion units by 2019, said on the sidelines of a conference that the majority of the money would come from the private sector but the government would also invest more.

He estimated $100 billion would go into renewable energy.