Well ahead of the twenty-first session of the Conference
of the Parties (COP) that is scheduled from 30 November to 11 December
2015 in Paris, France, India has voluntarily placed its Intended Nationally
Determined Contribution (INDC) for climate justice that vowed its commitment in
energy sector as well. It campaigns to increase non-fossil fuel-based energy
resources by up to 40% by the end of 2030, which means India plans to generate
40% more electricity from renewable sources along with increasing energy use
efficiency that would significantly reduce its dependence on fossil-fuel that
is often blamed for greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission and climate change. It is
a huge challenge in itself and calls for extraordinary vision, leadership, and
compassion with carefully built policies, programmes and action lines. However,
the Government of India is all set to take up this ambitious task.
Emission
by countries (2012):
The GHGs accumulation
has been debated since the time of industrial revolution and at present has
emerged as one of the biggest contributors to the global warming. The United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has been pleading that this
issue needs more response from the developed countries and calls for desired
global actions. In comparison to per capita emissions (2010) of developed
countries (7 to 15 tons/person), the emissions in India is much lower (1.56
tons/person), which clearly reflects that India is not a part of the problem.
However, the country has been playing an active and constructive role to find a
proactive solution to this problem.
Challenges for India
India is the
seventh-largest country in the world with a total area of 3,166,414 km2 and
over 1.28 billion people (2015) that accounts for 2.4% of world land area and
17.5% of the world population. It is home to 30% global poor with 304 million
people without access to electricity. Among the most deprived people on the
globe, India has 30% global population that is totally dependent on solid
biomass as main source of energy for cooking, and nearly 7% without the access
to safe drinking water. Rural communities in the country are largely dependent
on natural resources for their diverse needs. It is a huge challenge to
conserve nature along with fulfilling the basic needs and demands of its
population, such as poverty eradication, food and nutritional security, access
to education and health, gender equality and women empowerment, water and
sanitation, employment, sustainable urbanisation and new human settlements.
About 48% rural households lack basic facilities and are categorized as
'deprived'. There is also a continuous need for clean and efficient energy
systems along with the energy access and energy security to increase production
and growth.
These challenges need to
be looked into while addressing sustainable development for the country despite
the fact that India has endeavoured to pursue 'cleaner' conduit. As the UNFCCC
is engaged in multilateral negotiations on climate change related issue, India
has shown its best commitments to do so and is working for an effectual,
supportive and equitable framework for climate justice. As such the country has
a history to live in harmony with nature and is trying hard to take new and
innovative strategies along with new technologies while moving through this
developmental process.
Energy scenario in India
India has a total
installed power capacity of 245259 MW, mainly from thermal (70%), hydro-power
(14%), and remaining from other means. The average per capita energy
consumption (PEC) (2011) (i.e. 0.6 tonnes of oil equivalent-toe) is much lower
than the global average (1.88 toe). The consumption of energy in the form of
Coal and Lignite accounts for 41.29%, crude petroleum 38.70%, and electricity
14.47%.
The per capita electricity
consumption stands as low as 917 kW, which is merely one-third of the world's average
consumption. The country is observing rapid urbanization, and it is expected
that by 2030 nearly 40% population would reside in urban areas as against 30%
currently. Therefore, the need of increased population and industries will
amplify by many folds. In rural areas although 85% villages are connected to an
electricity grid, but only one-third of these villages are electrified, and
often the supply is erratic with high fluctuation and shortage. The rural
population is largely dependent on biomass for cooking using inefficient
stoves, which has induced many health risks as well as environmental
implications such as GHG emissions and deforestation.
Under such circumstances,
using renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass provides significant
potential for sustainable development. Thus India faces a formidable and
complex challenge in working for economic progress towards a secure future for
its citizens as well as meeting environmental and climate change concerns.
Despite the fact that the country is moving ahead in a strategic manner
safeguarding the need of the country as well as meeting the global challenges,
it has also addressed 'development without destruction'. For this purpose, a
broad policy framework has been put in place.
Policy framework
In recent years many
policies have been positioned in India to meet environmental and climate change
concerns. National Environment Policy (NEP), National Action Plan on Climate
Change (NAPCC), State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC), and Policy for
Farmers are some of these initiatives. These policies focus on achieving
sustainable development in tune with ecological integrity, economic
advancement, and social justice along with the sectoral growth. For
strengthening the energy sector, several policies, action plans and provisions
have also been provided as envisaged in National Energy Conservation Act, NEP,
and Integrated Energy Policy (IEP). Other efforts include providing coal cess,
increase in taxes on petrol and diesel, and cuts in subsidies along with
improvising market mechanisms including Perform Achieve and Trade (PAT),
Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) and a regulatory regime of Renewable
Purchase Obligation (RPO). Efforts are also made to strengthen the
institutional arrangement for renewable power generation.
It is noteworthy that on
voluntary basis India has already gone ahead in achieving the goal of reducing
the emissions intensity of its GDP by 20–25%, over 2005 levels, by 2020 without
having any binding mitigation obligations. Such measure has received wider
acclaim in the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) Emission Gap
Report 2014. India has laid down an ambitious plan to lower emission intensity
by switching on non-fossil fuel-based electricity generation. In addition, it
is also supporting clean energy measures and strengthening energy efficiency in
various sectors and industries, e.g. automobile, transport and building
sectors, to ensure minimum carbon emissions.
Actions and strategies for clean energy
India's renewable energy
expansion programme is one of the largest in the world. The Government has
launched a conducive regulatory and policy regime for this purpose. Through
Energy Conservation Act, the government is providing equal emphasis on power
generation and demand. On generation aspect, emphasis is given on promoting
renewable energy by harvesting solar and wind power, while for the coal-based
power plants it has become mandatory to adopt supercritical technologies. On
the demand side, importance is being given to efficiently use energy through
various innovative measures. Energy intensity, which is defined as the amount
of energy consumed for generating one unit of Gross Domestic Product (at
constant prices) has registered a net decline from 18.16 goe (grams of oil
equivalent) per Rupee of GDP in 2005 to 15.02 goe per Rupee of GDP in 2012,
i.e. a decline of over 2.5% per annum.
India has significantly increased renewable grid capacity in the country
between 2002 and 2015. Wind energy has been the predominant contributor to the
renewable energy, thus making India the 5th largest wind power producer in the
world. Solar Mission focuses on establishing solar parks, farm-pumps and
petrol-pumps along with many other solar devises. Also, Ultra Mega Solar Power
and canal top solar projects are at different stages of implementation. The
government has also decided to anchor a global solar alliance with InSPA
(International Agency for Solar Policy & Application) to give a boost to
this sector. The biomass energy sector, which is used in an inefficient manner
at present, although constitutes 18% of total primary energy use with 70%
population dependent on it, efforts are being made for cleaner and efficient
use and electricity generation from biomass. In Hydropower sector, high
priority is given for promotion of small and mini hydel projects, more
efficient designs of water mills, and electrification of remote villages. In
Nuclear Power sector, emphasis is given to safe, environment-friendly and
economically viable sources to meet the increasing electricity needs of the
country.
The Indian government has a motive to provide
'electricity for all' for which it has earmarked considerable fund for
fabrication and newer technologies with national and international support. As
coal supports 61% (167.2 GW) of India's installed capacity and is expected to
continue on a dominating role in power generation in future as well, the
government has taken Clean Coal policy so as to improve the efficiency of
coal-based power plants and to reduce its carbon footprint. Under this all
coal-based generating stations are mandated to use efficient supercritical
technology. Moreover, older power stations are being monitored for renovation
and modernisation (R&M) and life extension (LE).
Using ultra-supercritical
technology and following stringent emission standards have become mandatory;
and 144 old thermal stations have been conditioned to improve energy efficiency
through using such measures. To increase efficiency in power supply network
National Smart Grid Mission has been launched, which will facilitate reduction
in losses and outages. To ensure evacuation of renewable energy a Green Energy
Corridor scheme is put in place with an outlay of Rs 380 billion (USD 6
billion). Through National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE), the
Govt. has launched a fuel-saving scheme of around 23 million tonnes per year
that is in final stages of implementation. It is targeting to save 10% of
current energy consumption by the year 2018-19.
For the Demand side, the government has launched an extensive programme to
replace existing low-efficiency appliances. For example, it is promoting use of
efficient lighting devices such as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and
replacing use of light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs which on annual basis will
save power up to 100 billion kW/hr. To enable the consumer to be informed about
the energy consumption of an appliance, it has launched standards and labelling
programme, and so far 21 appliances are covered under it. It is worthwhile to learn
that through increasing the energy efficiency by 25 to 30% in refrigerator or
air-conditioner in past eight years, a significant quantity of energy is saved,
which advocates the utility of such measures. A programme on Super-Efficient
Fans that use half the energy as an average fan has also been launched.
Moreover, two sets of Corporate Average Fuel Consumption standards for cars
have been notified, with one coming into force in 2017 and the second set in
2022.
The minimum energy standards for new commercial buildings have been set through
Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC), and indigenous building-energy rating
system GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment), based on 34
criteria like site planning, conservation and efficient utilization of
resources, etc., has been prepared that is largely been followed in new
constructions. Also, the government has established a Partial Risk Guarantee
Fund for Energy Efficiency (PRGFEE) and Venture Capital Fund for Energy
Efficiency (VCFEE), which provide financial institutions with a partial
coverage on risk involved in extending loans for energy efficiency projects.
Future needsFor industrial and infrastructure sectors, recent initiatives
comprise Make in India, Digital India, creating National Industrial Corridors,
streamlining environment and forest approvals, and labour reforms, which have
eased doing business in the country; at the same time, appropriate measures and
policies are put in place to enable industries reduce their energy consumption
and ensure sustainable management of environment. Some such initiatives are
Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT), as a market-based energy efficiency trading
mechanism; and Zero Effect, Zero Defect (ZED), as a policy initiative to rate
medium- and small-scale industries on quality control and certification for
energy efficiency, enhanced resources efficiency, pollution control, use of
renewable energy, waste management, etc. Interestingly, PAT has covered 478
plants (designated consumers) in eight energy-intensive industrial sectors
accounting for one-third of total energy consumption in the country and brought
4 to 5% decline in energy consumption. With these good success records, efforts
are on to bring railways, electricity distribution and refinery sectors under
the gamut of PAT. Through ZED scheme, which has been launched in 2015, the
government envisages to cover 1 million medium- and small-scale enterprises.
Future needs
It is important to spread and disseminate the initiatives taken by the
Government of India; it is expected that through the campaign for increasing
efficiency of non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by up to 40% by the end of
2030, the country would be well positioned to be a role model for environmental
management in the world. Therefore, showcasing of good case-stories and
successful and replicable models for power generation, establishing a knowledge
base of learnings from such initiatives, and mainstreaming such policies can
provide significant social and economic benefits to the country as well as its
people.
