India’s commitment at COP 26 achievable with support of all stakeholders

“The world is moving from fossil to non-fossil and India is committed towards that,” Prasad said while addressing the 12th edition of the Energy Conclave organized by CII digitally in Kolkata today.

The challenge given by the Prime Minister of converting 50 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2030, and by the same year to reduce total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes will be achieved if the stakeholders are “supportive of the endeavour”, he asserted.

Prasad spoke at length about the key areas of the power geography like energy transition which needs to look into energy security so that customers do not suffer and also keep in mind the “energy mix” of India which is very different from other countries.

He also elaborated on new technology breakthroughs like solar and storage especially battery, which is an area of focus.

Prasad gave a call to the industry to come forward and adapt off river hydro pump storage to integrate renewables which is not only cost competitive but has longer storage duration enabling it to meet both the peaks in a day

An Energy Storage Policy is being drafted by Centre and there should be knowledge of integrating the storage system into the grid, he said.

With this view, the government has floated the first 1000 megawatt battery storage system whose expertise will be crucial by 2025 and the storage target can be made, added Prasad.

He also called for manufacturing facility in battery and asked the industry to take advantage of government schemes to build in-house manufacturing capacity.

On issues of distribution companies, Prasad said restructuring and reforms are on the anvil for the viability of the sector. He also emphasized on the deregulation/ modification of regulations of the sector for enhancing competition and adaptability.

He added that clarifications on storage will be issued soon and asked for an alignment of stakeholders and a focus on storage as energy transition is happening.

Prasad said that Market-Based Economic Dispatch (MBED) will have merit order dispatch at national level and by this, generators have to be managed online and maximum savings will be passed to DISCOMs if MBED is done.

MBED, according to Prasad, will streamline payments and purchases and the challenge to the government will be to streamline the payment process and make the entire chain viable.

Abhay Bakre, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) said that the Centre’s “Mission Roshni” will be the roadmap of energy efficiency and would focus on renewables for achieving the Prime Minister’s commitment of 1 billion ton reduction of CO2 by 2030.

The Government of India has already made various reforms in the last 5 years, post the Paris Agreement and is now focusing on energy transition.

By 2030, 30 percent of electricity would be in the energy mix as far as demand is concerned, Bakre added.

He said that the large industries are trying to get more renewables in the energy mix and minimizing the use of captive power plants but the small units are facing the challenges of electricity costs in terms of transitioning.

Getting electricity for consumers is priority, the challenge is getting it at affordable price and stable supply.

According to Bakre, electric vehicles is a huge opportunity for consolidating business as far as DISCOMs are concerned though the infrastructure for EVs has to be matched with fossil fuels in terms of battery swapping, mobile charging stations etc.

With 1 million square meters of commercial space and 3 million square meters of residential spaces coming up in the next few years, there will be a need of almost 390 gigawatt of cooling by 2030 which will affect peak load for DISCOMs, added the Director General of BEE.

The next 8-10 years, according to Mr Bakre, will be challenging and crucial with CO2 emission players will get much more recognition with opportunities for employment generation and finance.