Energy policy of India - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The energy policy of India is largely defined by the country's burgeoning energy deficit

Energy crisis

An energy crisis is any great bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In popular literature though, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, particularly those that supply national electricity grids or serve as fuel for vehicles...

and increased focus on developing alternative sources of energy

Alternative energy

Alternative energy is an umbrella term that refers to any source of usable energy intended to replace fuel sources without the undesired consequences of the replaced fuels....

, particularly nuclear

Nuclear power in India

Nuclear power is the fourth-largest source of electricity in India after thermal, hydroelectric and renewable sources of electricity. As of 2010, India has 20 nuclear reactors in operation in six nuclear power plants, generating 4,780 MW while seven other reactors are under construction and...

, solar

Solar power in India

India is densely populated and has high solar insolation, an ideal combination for using solar power in India. India is already a leader in wind power generation...

and wind

Wind power in India

The development of wind power in India began in the 1990s, and has significantly increased in the last few years. Although a relative newcomer to the wind industry compared with Denmark or the US, India has the fifth largest installed wind power capacity in the world...

energy.

About 70% of India's energy generation capacity is from fossil fuel

Fossil fuel

Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...

s, with coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

accounting for 40% of India's total energy consumption followed by crude oil and natural gas

Natural gas

Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

at 24% and 6% respectively. India is largely dependent on fossil fuel imports to meet its energy demands — by 2030, India's dependence on energy imports is expected to exceed 53% of the country's total energy consumption. In 2009-10, the country imported 159.26 million tonnes of crude oil which amount to 80% of its domestic crude oil consumption and 31% of the country's total imports are oil imports. The growth of electricity generation in India has been hindered by domestic coal shortages and as a consequence, India's coal imports for electricity generation increased by 18% in 2010.

Due to rapid economic expansion

Economic development in India

The economic development in India followed a socialist-inspired policies for most of its independent history, including state-ownership of many sectors; extensive regulation and red tape known as "Licence Raj"; and isolation from the world economy. India's per capita income increased at only around...

, India has one of the world's fastest growing energy markets and is expected to be the second-largest contributor to the increase in global energy demand by 2035, accounting for 18% of the rise in global energy consumption. Given India's growing energy demands and limited domestic fossil fuel reserves, the country has ambitious plans to expand its renewable

Renewable energy in India

Renewable energy in India is a sector that is still undeveloped. India was the first country in the world to set up a ministry of non-conventional energy resources, in early 1980s. However its success has been very spotty. In recent years India has been lagging behind other nations in the use of...

and nuclear power industries. India has the world's fifth largest wind power market and plans to add about 20GW of solar power capacity by 2022. India also envisages to increase the contribution of nuclear power to overall electricity generation capacity from 4.2% to 9% within 25 years. The country has five nuclear reactors under construction (third highest in the world) and plans to construct 18 additional nuclear reactors (second highest in the world) by 2025.

Energy conservation

Energy conservation refers to efforts made to reduce energy consumption. Energy conservation can be achieved through increased efficient energy use, in conjunction with decreased energy consumption and/or reduced consumption from conventional energy sources...

has emerged as a major policy objective, and the Energy Conservation Act 2001, was passed by the Indian Parliament in September 2001, 35.5% of the population still live without access to electricity. This Act requires large energy consumers to adhere to energy consumption norms; new buildings to follow the Energy Conservation Building Code

Energy Conservation Building Code

The Energy Conservation Building Code , launched on 28 June 2007, is a document that specifies the energy performance requirements for all commercial buildings that are to be constructed in India...

; and appliances to meet energy performance standards and to display energy consumption labels. The Act also created the Bureau of Energy Efficiency to implement the provisions of the Act.

Rural electrification

The key development objectives of the power sector is supply of electricity to all areas including rural areas as mandated in section 6 of the Electricity Act. Both the central government and state governments would jointly endeavour to achieve this objective at the earliest. Consumers, particularly those who are ready to pay a tariff which reflects efficient costs have the right to get uninterrupted twenty four hours supply of quality power. About 56% of rural households have not yet been electrified even though many of these households are willing to pay for electricity. Determined efforts should be made to ensure that the task of rural electrification for securing electricity access to all households and also ensuring that electricity reaches poor and marginal sections of the society at reasonable rates is completed within the next five years. India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

is using Renewable Sources of Energy like Hydel Energy
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...

, Wind Energy
Wind energy
Wind energy is the kinetic energy of air in motion; see also wind power.Total wind energy flowing through an imaginary area A during the time t is:E = ½ m v2 = ½ v 2...

, and Solar Energy to electrify villages.
Reliable rural electrification system will aim at creating the following:
1. Rural Electrification Distribution Backbone (REDB) with at least one 33/11 kv (or 66/11 kv) substation in every Block and more if required as per load, networked and connected appropriately to the state transmission system
2. Emanating from REDB would be supply feeders and one distribution transformer at least in every village settlement.
3. Household Electrification from distribution transformer to connect every household on demand.
4. Wherever above is not feasible (it is neither cost effective nor the optimal solution to provide grid connectivity) decentralized distributed generation
  Distributed generation
  Distributed generation, also called on-site generation, dispersed generation, embedded generation, decentralized generation, decentralized energy or distributed energy, generates electricity from many small energy sources....
  
  facilities together with local distribution network would be provided so that every household gets access to electricity. This would be done either through conventional or non-conventional methods of electricity generation whichever is more suitable and economical. Non-conventional sources of energy could be utilized even where grid connectivity exists provided it is found to be cost effective.
5. Development of infrastructure would also cater for requirement of agriculture & other economic activities including irrigation pump sets, small and medium industries, khadi and village industries, cold chain and social services like health and education.
Particular attention would be given in household electrification to dalit bastis, tribal areas and other weaker sections.
Rural Electrification Corporation of India, a Government of India enterprise will be the nodal agency at Central Government level to implement the programme for achieving the goal set by National Common Minimum Programme of giving access to electricity to all the households in next five years. Its role is being suitably enlarged to ensure timely implementation of rural electrification projects.
Targeted expansion in access to electricity for rural households in the desired timeframe can be achieved if the distribution licensees recover at least the cost of electricity and related O&M expenses from consumers, except for lifeline support to households below the poverty line who would need to be adequately subsidized. Subsidies should be properly targeted at the intended beneficiaries in the most efficient manner. Government recognizes the need for providing necessary capital subsidy and soft long-term debt finances for investment in rural electrification as this would reduce the cost of supply in rural areas. Adequate funds would need to be made available for the same through the Plan process. Also commensurate organizational support would need to be created for timely implementation. The Central Government would assist the State Governments in achieving this.
Necessary institutional framework would need to be put in place not only to ensure creation of rural electrification infrastructure but also to operate and maintain supply system for securing reliable power supply to consumers. Responsibility of operation & maintenance and cost recovery could be discharged by utilities through appropriate arrangements with Panchayats, local authorities, NGOs and other franchisees etc.
The gigantic task of rural electrification requires appropriate cooperation among various agencies of the State Governments, Central Government and participation of the community. Education and awareness programmes would be essential for creating demand for electricity and for achieving the objective of effective community participation.

Electricity industry

The electricity industry was restructured by the Electricity Act 2003, which unbundled the vertically integrated electricity supply utilities in each state of India into a transmission utility, and a number of generating and distribution utilities. Electricity Regulatory Commissions

Central Electricity Regulatory Commission

Central Electricity Regulatory Commission , a key regulator of power sector in India, is a statutory body functioning with quasi-judicial status under sec - 76 of the Electricity Act 2003...

in each state set tariffs for electricity sales. The Act also enables open access on the transmission system, allowing any consumer (with a load of greater than 1 MW) to buy electricity from any generator. Significantly, it also requires each Regulatory Commission to specify the minimum percentage of electricity that each distribution utility must source from renewable energy

Renewable energy

Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...

sources.

The introduction of Availability based tariff

Availability based tariff

Availability Based Tariff is a frequency based pricing mechanism for electric power. The ABT falls under electricity market mechanisms to charge and regulate power to achieve short term and long term network stability as well as incentives and dis-incentives to market participants against...

has brought about stability to a great extent in the Indian transmission grids. A report in 2005 suggested that there was room for improvement in terms of the efficiency of electricity generation in India, and suggested that two factors possibly responsible for the inefficiency were public ownership of utilities and low capacity utilization

Capacity utilization

Capacity utilization is a concept in economics and managerial accounting which refers to the extent to which an enterprise or a nation actually uses its installed productive capacity...

Bio-Fuels

The former President of India

President of India

The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...

, Dr. Abdul Kalam, is one of the strong advocaters of Jatropha

Jatropha

Jatropha is a genus of approximately 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees , from the family Euphorbiaceae. The name is derived from the Greek words ἰατρός , meaning "physician," and τροφή , meaning "nutrition," hence the common name physic nut. Mature plants produce separate male and female...

cultivation for production of bio-diesel. In his recent speech, the Former President said that out of the 6,00,000 km² of waste land that is available in India over 3,00,000 km² is suitable for Jatropha cultivation. Once this plant is grown, it has a useful lifespan of several decades. During its life Jatropha requires very little water when compared to other cash crops. A plan for supplying incentives to encourage the use of Jatropha has been implemented.

Wind power showcase

The once-impoverished village of Muppandal

Muppandal

Muppandal is a small village on the southern tip of India in Kanyakumari District, in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is located in a hilly region where wind from the Arabian Sea gusts through mountain passes....

benefited from the building of the nearby Muppandal wind farm, a renewable energy

Renewable energy

source, which supplies the villagers with electricity for work.
The village had been selected as the showcase for India's $2 billion clean energy program which provides foreign companies with tax breaks for establishing fields of wind turbines in the area. Now huge power-producing windmills tower over the palm trees. The village has attracted wind energy producing companies creating thousands of new jobs, dramatically raising the incomes of villagers.
The suitability of Muppandal as a site for wind farms stems from its geographical location as it has access to the seasonal monsoon winds.

Oil

The state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) acquired shares in oil fields in countries like Sudan, Syria, Iran, and Nigeria – investments that have led to diplomatic tensions with the United States. Because of political instability in the Middle East and increasing domestic demand for energy, India is keen on decreasing its dependency on OPEC

OPEC

OPEC is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular meetings...

to meet its oil demand, and increasing its energy security

Energy security

Energy security is a term for an association between national security and the availability of natural resources for energy consumption. Access to cheap energy has become essential to the functioning of modern economies. However, the uneven distribution of energy supplies among countries has led...

. Several Indian oil companies, primarily led by ONGC and Reliance Industries

Reliance Industries

Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian conglomerate company headquartered at Mumbai, India. The company operates through three business segments: petrochemicals, refining, and oil and gas, other segment of the company includes textile, retail business, special economic zone development and...

, have started a massive hunt for oil in several regions in India including Rajasthan

Rajasthan

Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...

, Krishna

Krishna River

The Krishna River , is one of the longest rivers in central-southern India, about . It is also referred to as Krishnaveni in its original nomenclature...

-Godavari

Godavari River

The Godavari is a river that runs from western to southern India and is considered to be one of the big river basins in India. With a length of 1465 km, it is the second longest river in India , that runs within the country and also the longest river in South India...

and north-eastern Himalayas

North-East India

Northeast India refers to the easternmost region of India consisting of the contiguous Seven Sister States, Sikkim, and parts of North Bengal...

. The proposed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline is a part of India's plan to meet its increasing energy demand.

Nuclear power

India boasts a quickly advancing and active nuclear power program. It is expected to have 20 GW of nuclear capacity by 2020, though they currently stand as the 9th in the world in terms of nuclear capacity.

An achilles heel of the Indian nuclear power program, however, is the fact that they are not signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This has many times in their history prevented them from obtaining nuclear technology vital to expanding their use of nuclear industry. Another consequence of this is that much of their program has been domestically developed, much like their nuclear weapons program. United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act seems to be a way to get access to advanced nuclear technologies for India.
India has been using imported enriched uranium and are under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, but it has developed various aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle to support its reactors. Development of select technologies has been strongly affected by limited imports. Use of heavy water reactors has been particularly attractive for the nation because it allows Uranium to be burnt with little to no enrichment capabilities. India has also done a great amount of work in the development of a Thorium centered fuel cycle

India's three stage nuclear power programme

India's three stage nuclear power programme was formulated to use the available uranium and thorium reserves found in the monazite sands of coastal regions of South India. Importance of nuclear energy was recognised as soon as India became independent...

. While Uranium deposits in the nation are extremely limited, there are much greater reserves of Thorium and it could provide hundreds of times the energy with the same mass of fuel. The fact that Thorium can theoretically be utilized in heavy water reactors has tied the development of the two. A prototype reactor that would burn Uranium-Plutonium fuel while irradiating a Thorium blanket is under construction at the Madras/Kalpakkam Atomic Power Station.

Uranium used for the weapons program has been separate from the power program, using Uranium from scant indigenous reserves.

Solar Energy

India's theoretical solar potential is about 5000 T kWh per year (i.e. ~ 600 TW), far more than its current total consumption. Currently solar power is prohibitive due to high initial costs of deployment. However India's

Solar power in India

India is densely populated and has high solar insolation, an ideal combination for using solar power in India. India is already a leader in wind power generation...

long-term solar potential could be unparalleled in the world because it has the ideal combination of both high solar insolation

Insolation

Insolation is a measure of solar radiation energy received on a given surface area in a given time. It is commonly expressed as average irradiance in watts per square meter or kilowatt-hours per square meter per day...

and a big potential consumer base

Consumer

Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer occurs in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary.-Economics and marketing:...

density.
With a major section of its citizens still surviving off-grid, India's grid system is considerably under-developed. Availability of cheap solar can bring electricity to people, and bypass the need of installation of expensive grid lines.
Also a major factor influencing a regions energy intensity

Energy intensity

]Energy intensity is a measure of the energy efficiency of a nation's economy. It is calculated as units of energy per unit of GDP.* High energy intensities indicate a high price or cost of converting energy into GDP....

is the cost of energy consumed for temperature control. Since cooling load requirements are roughly in phase with the sun's intensity, cooling

Cooling

Cooling is the transfer of thermal energy via thermal radiation, heat conduction or convection. It may also refer to:-Techniques:* Air conditioning* Air cooling* Computer cooling* Cryogenics* Conduction * Infrared solar cells* Laser cooling...

from intense solar radiation could make perfect energy-economic sense in the subcontinent, whenever the required technology becomes competitively cheaper.

Policy framework

In general, India's strategy is the encouragement of the development of renewable sources of energy

Renewable energy

by the use of incentives by the federal and state governments. Other examples of encouragement by incentive include the use of nuclear energy (India Nuclear Cooperation Promotion Act

India Nuclear Cooperation Promotion Act

The 123 Agreement signed between the United States of America and the Republic of India is known as the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation or Indo-US nuclear deal. The framework for this agreement was a July 18, 2005, joint statement by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then U.S....

), promoting windfarm

WindFarm

WindFarm is wind energy software used to analyse, design, optimise and visualise wind farms. It calculates and optimises the energy yield subject to natural, planning and engineering constraints. WindFarm has the wind modelling software MS-Micro integrated. MS-Micro is based on the same...

s such as Muppandal

Muppandal

, and solar energy (Ralegaon Siddhi).

A long-term energy policy perspective is provided by the Integrated Energy Policy Report 2006 which provides policy guidance on energy-sector growth.

External Links

India’s Energy Policy and Electricity Production, Q&A with Charles Ebinger (October 2011)

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Energy conservation

Rural electrification

Electricity industry

Bio-Fuels

Wind power showcase

Oil

Nuclear power

Solar Energy

Policy framework

See also

External Links