Energy Security in India: Challenges and Opportunities
The term ‘Energy security’ denotes the connection between national security and the availability of natural resources for energy consumption. The most important sources of primary energy in India are coal, oil and natural gas. The renewable energy sector in India has emerged as a part of the solution to meet the requirements of the country’s energy requirements and needs. Both short term, as well as long term measures, are the need of the hour. Core areas for long term actions to increase energy security may include reducing dependence on any one source of energy, increasing the number of suppliers, exploitation of native fossil fuel or renewable energy resources, and reducing overall demand through energy conservation measures.
Energy conservation constitutes an essential part of developing sustainable communities which call for conservation of energy sources and the use of renewable, clean energy. Optimum use of solar power, geothermal heating and cooling systems and wind energy can significantly reduce a community’s dependence on petroleum, diesel, coal, gas and other such types of energy. Increased consumption of energy is leading to the diminishing of the reserves of fossil fuels.This calls for a wholehearted adoption of viable alternates such as solar power (The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is one such step taken in this direction). Solar electricity for powering appliances and lights in households and public facilities and mechanical power from either electricity or other energy sources that improve the productivity of labor may also constitute one of the prerequisites of energy access.
Lack of access to modern energy services denies people from the bare minimum living standards. It hampers the creation of productive activities, incomes and employment in rural areas. There is no standard definition of “energy access”; rather it may be largely defined as the availability of modern and improved devices in the maximum possible households at affordable prices for the end-users. It also includes access to less polluting and efficient household energy for basic daily requirements such as cooking and heating.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development enlists access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy as a key pillar of Sustainable Development Goal 7 viz. ‘Affordable and Clean Energy’. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Report on Energy Services for the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) underscores the importance of energy services for the MDG agenda, stressing three types of services in particular: modern fuels for cooking and heating; electricity for public services; and motive power for productive uses in communities. The report offers practical recommendations for energy planning exercises.
Energy access is also about creating a development space that reduces inequality and makes growth inclusive. It is also about decentralization and giving control to the rural people to plan for themselves. As they say in management, “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”. The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is one such effective program. It was launched in 2016 to distribute 50 million LPG connections to women of BPL families.
There are thousands of villages in India where people do not have regular supply of electricity. Biomass in the form of renewable energy is one of the potential technologies to reduce fuel poverty, commonly prevalent in the rural communities. By making the use of various bio-energy technologies, such as gasification, anaerobic digestion, pyrolysis, etc. biomass waste can be converted into useful forms of energy, thus paving a way and mechanism for sustainable social, economic and environmental development of rural communities.
An integrated scheme covering all aspects of power distribution in rural areas was conceptualized and launched by the government for rural areas namely the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana. While implementing the scheme, it was observed that many of the villages which lacked electricity supply are located in remote areas, with intricate terrain, in snowbound areas or in dense forests of which some were affected by the left-wing extremism. As the transportation of materials and setting up of necessary infrastructure was a challenge, it was decided that such areas would be provided off-grid electrification by means of photo-voltaic based modes. The diverse geographical, demographic and other conditions of the States posed problems with respect to the execution of the projects. This can be improvised by assigning a timeline and necessary project management to ensure the completion of project and electrification of villages.
The National Solar Mission (NSM) is the most ambitious program which aims to promote solar energy for power generation as the conventional sources of energy has its own limitations. NSM was launched on 11th January 2010 by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The Mission was to be implemented in three phases. The objective of the NSM is to establish India as a global leader in solar energy, by creating the policy framework for its implementation across the country. One such green initiative involves the North-Eastern Railway (NER) installing solar panels at all its 85 stations, a move that is expected to cut down electricity bills by 30% or around 15 lakh per annum. NER will also sell surplus power to the power grid. According to railway officials, the cost of power per unit will be 4.89 instead of the current Rs.7 to be payable to the company which would install the units on a public-private partnership model.
However, solar thermal technology is not cost-effective at present. Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has notified tariff of Rs. 12.07/kWh for solar thermal and Rs. 5.68/kWh for solar photo-voltaic (PV) power plants, for 2016–17. Further, in recent bids, the lowest solar PV tariff discovered is Rs. 2.44/kWh. Thus, in India, the cost of electricity generated from solar thermal power plants is much higher than the cost of electricity generated from Solar PV power plants.
Another area which may be explored is that, is it too early for India to consider with respect to a full-fledged electric pathway? The auto industry and automotive component manufacturers complain that full electric strategy will be disruptive, cause job loss and has no relevance when India is moving fast to adopt the much-awaited, cleaner BS Stage VI emission standards in 2020.
Clearly, India requires a massive outreach program to win clientele for the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem. There are concerns about the lack of charging facilities, battery replacement costs, limited range of products in the market and high capital costs. Most banks do not finance electric two-wheelers as they are low-powered and are not usually registered. The process is equally tardy for four-wheelers.
Moreover, centralized energy generation to power vehicles opens up better opportunity for pollution control at the source than decentralized emissions control of numerous tailpipes of combustion engines. Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment estimates that if all the vehicles, except trucks, were to run on electricity by 2030, the electricity consumed will be about 110 terawatt/hour or about 5% of the total electricity demand of India in 2030 as projected by 2017 report of NITI Aayog. Likewise, the European Union estimates that EVs will consume 9–10% of their total electricity demand by 2050, where 80% of vehicles can be electric.
India’s strategy for electric mobility has been different from advanced markets that are car-centric. India is exploring its strategy regarding incentives and subsidies linked with EV based public transport system, buses, para-transit, feeders to metro, school buses and a large fleet of delivery vehicles.India is desperate to curb air pollution, strengthen energy security and mitigate climate change impacts.
The National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 is a National Mission document which provides the vision and the road-map for the faster adoption of electric vehicles and their manufacturing in the country. This plan has been designed to enhance national fuel security, to provide affordable and environmentally friendly transportation and to enable the Indian automotive industry to achieve global manufacturing leadership.
As part of the NEMMP 2020, Department of Heavy Industry formulated a Scheme viz. Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) Scheme in the year 2015 to promote manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicle technology and to ensure sustainable growth of the same. The Phase-I of this Scheme was initially launched for a period of 2 years, commencing from 1st April 2015, which was subsequently extended from time to time and the last extension was allowed up to 31st March 2019. The first phase focused on demand creation, through incentives on all vehicle segments i.e. 2-Wheelers, 3-Wheelers Auto, Passenger 4-Wheeler vehicles, Light Commercial Vehicles and Buses.
We must understand, however, that EVs, rural electrification, solar alliances are just the tip of the iceberg. Our External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar highlighted in an interview to Der Speigel iterated that India can move to alternate resources of energy only if she can scale up alternatives such as solar, hydro or nuclear power. This has posed new threats to energy security in the form of the increased competition for energy resources amongst nations. The increased pace of industrialization in countries such as India has forced it to address the incremental consequences of climate change. Terrorist attacks targeting oil facilities, pipelines, tankers, refineries, and oil fields have become common and without proper foolproof measures, they stand as serious liabilities(appropriately referred as “industry risks”). An example of this would be the cyber attack on the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu. Therefore it can be concluded that the many pieces of the jigsaw still need to be put together by India to reach the target of zero emissions and maintain the security of its resources and infrastructure in the process. Securing India’s energy requirements will indeed secure its future.
