Growing urbanization and the resultant rise in the demand for electricity have increasingly made second generation power sector reforms critical for economic growth. Undertaking a comprehensive analysis of the electricity policy, this book reviews its regulation and performance, and argues for healthy competition, better customer focus, and efficient distribution of electricity.
Massive private investment that complements public investment is needed to close the demand-supply gap and make reliable power available to all Indians. Government efforts have sought to attract private sector funding and management efficiency throughout the electricity value chain, adapting its strategy over time.
Throughout the 20th century, electricity was considered to be the primary vehicle of modernity, as well as its quintessential symbol. In India, electrification was central to how early nationalists and planners conceptualized Indian development, and huge sums were spent on the project from then until now. Yet despite all this, sixty-five years after independence nearly 400 million Indians have no access to electricity. Electrifying India explores the political and historical puzzle of uneven development in India's vital electricity sector. In some states, nearly all citizens have access to electricity, while in others fewer than half of households have reliable electricity. To help explain this variation, this book offers both a regional and a historical perspective on the politics of electrification of India as it unfolded in New Delhi and three Indian states: Maharashtra, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh. In those parts of the countryside that were successfully electrified in the decades after independence, the gains were due to neither nationalist idealism nor merely technocratic plans, but rather to the rising political influence and pressure of rural constituencies. In looking at variation in how public utilities expanded over a long period of time, this book argues that the earlier period of an advancing state apparatus from the 1950s to the 1980s conditioned in important ways the manner of the state's retreat during market reforms from the 1990s onward.
Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this book provides a systematic approach to legislation and legal practice concerning energy resources and production in India. The book describes the administrative organization, regulatory framework, and relevant case law pertaining to the development, application, and use of such forms of energy as electricity, gas, petroleum, and coal, with attention as needed to the pervasive legal effects of competition law, environmental law, and tax law. A general introduction covers the geography of energy resources, sources and basic principles of energy law, and the relevant governmental institutions. Then follows a detailed description of specific legislation and regulation affecting such factors as documentation, undertakings, facilities, storage, pricing, procurement and sales, transportation, transmission, distribution, and supply of each form of energy. Case law, intergovernmental cooperation agreements, and interactions with environmental, tax, and competition law are explained. Its succinct yet scholarly nature, as well as the practical quality of the information it provides, make this book a valuable resource for energy sector policymakers and energy firm counsel handling cases affecting India. It will also be welcomed by researchers and academics for its contribution to the study of a complex field that today stands at the foreground of comparative law.
Electricity is critical to enabling India’s economic growth and providing a better future for its citizens. In spite of several decades of reform, the Indian electricity sector is unable to provide high-quality and affordable electricity for all, and grapples with the challenge of poor financial and operational performance. To understand why, Mapping Power provides the most comprehensive analysis of the political economy of electricity in India’s states. With chapters on fifteen states by scholars of state politics and electricity, this volume maps the political and economic forces that constrain and shape decisions in electricity distribution. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it concludes that attempts to depoliticize the sector are misplaced and could worsen outcomes. Instead, it suggests that a historically grounded political economy analysis helps understand the past and devise reforms to simultaneously improve sectoral outcomes and generate political rewards. These arguments have implications for the challenges facing India’s electricity future, including providing electricity to all, implementing government reform schemes, and successfully managing the rise of renewable energy.
After the thorough study of the present market, we learned that there isn't much scope for the general public to become aware of the regulations which guide the power sector of our country. In fact, even people working in the power sector, like those who are related to power generation, transmission, distribution, operation and maintenance, etc, but not directly related to power business and regulatory matters, are ignorant of such various rules and regulations. Current power market is consumer-driven, and hence it is very important on the part of the consumers and other utilities to have knowledge about these regulations in order to maximise their output, enhance their profit, and in the same place shielding themselves from various kinds of gaming by other competing utilities. The one who has full knowledge of such rules and regulatory matters can efficiently manage their business, extracting maximum gain in this competitive market and will rise to become the final champion in the market. This book starts from the genesis of power industry in India, covering in its path the Electricity Act and earlier legislations and legal background, overview of the Indian Power Sector, Role which the Regulators play in efficient running of this sector, Indian Electricity Grid Code, Presence of Load Despatch Centres and their functions, scenario of Open Access in power Sector in India, Tariff determination and its structure, Power Exchange, evolution and expansion of Renewable Energy Sector in India and efficient energy management. The aim of writing this book is to reach out to more and more people. This book will be of great help to power industry professionals, who will finally know what their effort is finally yielding to. Thus it will increase their interest as well as efficiency. Each step is interlinked, so the final profit will be the compound gain of each individual step. The book will also be useful to aspiring power engineers and power management students, who can have a broad outlook of the Indian Power Sector as a whole. Lastly, the general public will also be benefitted as they are the one who ultimately pays
Mark Twain observed, “I'm in favour of progress; it's change I don't like.” Coal dominates Indian energy because it’s available domestically and cheap (especially without a carbon tax). If the global focus is on the energy transition, how does India ensure a just transition? Managing winners and losers will be the single largest challenge for India’s energy policy. Coal is entrenched in a complex ecosystem. In some states, it’s amongst the largest contributors to state budgets. The Indian Railways, India’s largest civilian employer, is afloat because it overcharges coal to offset under-recovery from passengers. Coal India Limited, the public sector miner that produces 85% of domestic coal, is the world’s largest coal miner. But despite enormous reserves, India imports about a quarter of consumption. On the flip side, coal faces inevitable pressure from renewable energy, which is the cheapest option for new builds. However, there is significant coal-based power capacity already in place, some of which is underutilized, or even stranded. Low per-capita energy consumption means India must still grow its energy supply. Before India can phase out coal, it must first achieve a plateau of coal. How this happens cost-effectively and with least resistance isn’t just a technical or economic question, it depends on the political economy of coal and its alternatives. Some stakeholders want to kill coal. A wiser option may be to first clean it up, instead of wishing it away. Across 18 chapters, drawing from leading experts in the field, we examine all aspects of coal’s future in India. We find no easy answers, but attempt to combine the big picture with details, bringing them together to offer a range of policy options.
How solar could spark a clean-energy transition through transformative innovation—creative financing, revolutionary technologies, and flexible energy systems. Solar energy, once a niche application for a limited market, has become the cheapest and fastest-growing power source on earth. What's more, its potential is nearly limitless—every hour the sun beams down more energy than the world uses in a year. But in Taming the Sun, energy expert Varun Sivaram warns that the world is not yet equipped to harness erratic sunshine to meet most of its energy needs. And if solar's current surge peters out, prospects for replacing fossil fuels and averting catastrophic climate change will dim. Innovation can brighten those prospects, Sivaram explains, drawing on firsthand experience and original research spanning science, business, and government. Financial innovation is already enticing deep-pocketed investors to fund solar projects around the world, from the sunniest deserts to the poorest villages. Technological innovation could replace today's solar panels with coatings as cheap as paint and employ artificial photosynthesis to store intermittent sunshine as convenient fuels. And systemic innovation could add flexibility to the world's power grids and other energy systems so they can dependably channel the sun's unreliable energy. Unleashing all this innovation will require visionary public policy: funding researchers developing next-generation solar technologies, refashioning energy systems and economic markets, and putting together a diverse clean energy portfolio. Although solar can't power the planet by itself, it can be the centerpiece of a global clean energy revolution. A Council on Foreign Relations Book
INTEGRATION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES WITH SMART GRID Provides comprehensive coverage of renewable energy and its integration with smart grid technologies. This book starts with an overview of renewable energy technologies, smart grid technologies, and energy storage systems and covers the details of renewable energy integration with smart grid and the corresponding controls. It also provides an enhanced perspective on the power scenario in developing countries. The requirement of the integration of smart grid along with the energy storage systems is deeply discussed to acknowledge the importance of sustainable development of a smart city. The methodologies are made quite possible with highly efficient power convertor topologies and intelligent control schemes. These control schemes are capable of providing better control with the help of machine intelligence techniques and artificial intelligence. The book also addresses modern power convertor topologies and the corresponding control schemes for renewable energy integration with smart grid. The design and analysis of power converters that are used for the grid integration of solar PV along with simulation and experimental results are illustrated. The protection aspects of the microgrid with power electronic configurations for wind energy systems are elucidated. The book also discusses the challenges and mitigation measure in renewable energy integration with smart grid. Audience The core audience is hardware and software engineers working on renewable energy integration related projects, microgrids, smart grids and computing algorithms for converter and inverter circuits. Researchers and students in electrical, electronics and computer engineering will also benefit reading the book.
This volume explores opportunities and challenges in articulating and implementing a robust but flexible set of strategies for meeting India’s primary energy needs; making the energy system more resilient, in order to drive India’s economic growth, and more equitable, in order to fulfil the basic energy needs of all citizens in an uncertain future. A range of national scenarios is explored to examine possibilities of fuel and technology substitutions along two time horizons: in some detail until 2030 and also mapping out plausible pathways to 2050. This volume is the first time a tripartite effort has been undertaken by an IOC (Shell) and two reputed think-tanks (CEEW and TERI) to develop a single narrative on energy choices and related issues in India. It combines Shell’s international and energy-specific know-how with CEEW and TERI’s domestic and broader sustainable development experience. Finally, it is unique in its treatment of the energy sector as a whole in India’s development (focusing on both the technology and policy dimensions), and in its engagement with the world (including diplomatic and security dimensions).
