This critique on the Draft Report on Integrated Energy Policy was serialised in Volume II, Issue 43-46, 50 of ORF Energy News Monitor. It has three sections, first, Concept level issues- identifies the gaps in the Planning Commission's draft report, second, Action plan- for filling those gaps and lastly, Conclusions.
This critique on the Draft Report on Integrated Energy Policy was serialised in Volume II, Issue 43-46, 50 of ORF Energy News Monitor. It has three sections, first, Concept level issues- identifies the gaps in the Planning Commission’s draft report, second, Action plan- for filling those gaps and lastly, Conclusions.
Highlights:-
- It can be argued that the present day crises in meeting the basic needs, including energy, is because the State has assumed the entire responsibility of supplying these needs to every one, whereas in the ancient days, the onus of arranging for energy and other basic needs was with the individual.
- Draft report’s ambitious target of 150,000-MW hydro potential by 2031-32 seems unrealistic . With a total installed hydro capacity of only 32,135 MW at the end of 2005, and with the country facing so much opposition and hurdles in its attempt to increase the hydel capacity, it is difficult to imagine the addition of another 120,000 MW in next 25 years.
- The international experience establishes the fact that the combined T&D losses can be brought down to less than 10 per cent. Even if the combined losses are reduced to about 10 per cent, the resultant additional power availability (of about 30 –35 per cent) could be in the range of about 36,000 to 42,000 MW. This additional power availability can effectively eliminate the need for 35 – 40 mega power projects.
- Because of the wide longitudinal spread of India’s land area, there is about 30-degree longitudinal difference between the eastern and western extremities of the country, with a real time difference of about 120 minutes. This time difference could be used for effectively diversifying the peak loads across different regions of the country.
- What our society is doing at present is to supply inefficiently derived energy from limited conventional sources at subsidized rates for highly inefficient and/wasteful end uses, for which the real subsidy cost will be debited to the account of future generations.
for more details, please contact:
[email protected]
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.
PREV
