Energy policy of India

The energy policy of India is largely defined by the coun-try’s burgeoning energy deficit[1] and increased focus ondeveloping alternative sources of energy,[2] particularlynuclear, solar and wind energy.The energy consumption in India is the fourth biggestafter China, USA and Russia.[3] The total primary en-ergy consumption from crude oil (29.45%), natural gas(7.7%), coal (54.5%), nuclear energy (1.26%), hydroelectricity (5.0%), wind power, biomass electricity andsolar power is 595 Mtoe in the year 2013.[4] In the year2013, India’s net imports are nearly 144.3 million tons ofcrude oil, 16 Mtoe of LNG and 95 Mtoe coal totalling to255.3Mtoe of primary energy which is equal to 42.9% oftotal primary energy consumption. About 70% of India’selectricity generation capacity is from fossil fuels. Indiais largely dependent on fossil fuel imports to meet its en-ergy demands — by 2030, India’s dependence on energyimports is expected to exceed 53% of the country’s totalenergy consumption.[1] In 2009-10, the country imported159.26 million tonnes of crude oil which amounts to 80%of its domestic crude oil consumption and 31% of thecountry’s total imports are oil imports.[1][5] The growthof electricity generation in India has been hindered bydomestic coal shortages[6] and as a consequence, India’scoal imports for electricity generation increased by 18%in 2010.[7]

Due to rapid economic expansion, India has one of theworld’s fastest growing energy markets and is expectedto be the second-largest contributor to the increase inglobal energy demand by 2035, accounting for 18% ofthe rise in global energy consumption.[8] Given India’sgrowing energy demands and limited domestic fossil fuelreserves, the country has ambitious plans to expand itsrenewable and nuclear power industries.[9] India has theworld’s fifth largest wind power market[10] and also plansto add about 100,000 MW of solar power capacity by2020.[11] India also envisages to increase the contributionof nuclear power to overall electricity generation capac-ity from 4.2% to 9% within 25 years.[12] The country hasfive nuclear reactors under construction (third highest inthe world) and plans to construct 18 additional nuclearreactors (second highest in the world) by 2025.[13]

Some rural areas in India remain to be connected to the electricitygrid. Shown here villagers heating tea with the help of firewood.

Ramagundam Thermal Power Station (2600 MW), Telangana

1 Power Generation capacity in In-dia

Main article: Electricity sector in India

The installed capacity of utility power plants is 267,637MW as on 31March 2015 and the gross electricity gener-ated by utilities is 1106 GWh (1106 billion kWh) whichincludes auxiliary power consumption of power gener-ating stations. The installed capacity of captive powerplants in industries (1 MW and above) is 47,082 MWas on 31 March 2015 and generated 166.426 billionkWh in the financial year 2014-15.[14] In addition, thereare nearly 75,000 MW aggregate capacity diesel gener-ator sets with units sizes between 100 KVA and 1000KVA.[15] All India per capita consumption of Electricityis nearly 1010 kWh during the financial year 2014-15.[14]

1

2 3 RURAL ELECTRIFICATION

Total installed Power generation Capacity (end ofMarch 2015)[16]

For state wise break up refer to States of India by installedpower capacity.

2 Energy conservation

See also: Negawatt power

Energy conservation has emerged as a major policy ob-jective, and the Energy Conservation Act 2001, waspassed by the Indian Parliament in September 2001,35.5% of the population still live without access to elec-tricity. This Act requires large energy consumers to ad-here to energy consumption norms; new buildings to fol-low the Energy Conservation Building Code; and appli-ances to meet energy performance standards and to dis-play energy consumption labels. The Act also created theBureau of Energy Efficiency to implement the provisionsof the Act. In the year 2015, Prime Minister Mr. Modilaunched a scheme called Prakash Path urging people touse LED lamps in place of other lamps to drastically cutdown lighting power requirement.

3 Rural electrification

1. The key development objectives of the power sec-tor is supply of electricity to all areas including ru-ral areas as mandated in section 6 of the ElectricityAct. Both the central government and state govern-ments would jointly endeavour to achieve this ob-jective at the earliest. Consumers, particularly thosewho are ready to pay a tariff which reflects efficientcosts have the right to get uninterrupted twenty fourhours supply of quality power. About 56% of ruralhouseholds have not yet been electrified even thoughmany of these households are willing to pay for elec-tricity. Determined efforts should be made to en-sure that the task of rural electrification for securingelectricity access to all households and also ensur-ing that electricity reaches poor and marginal sec-tions of the society at reasonable rates is completedwithin the next five years. India is using RenewableSources of Energy like Hydel Energy, Wind Energy,and Solar Energy to electrify villages.

2. Reliable rural electrification system will aim at cre-ating the following:

(a) Rural Electrification Distribution Backbone(REDB) with at least one 33/11 kv (or 66/11kv) substation in every Block and more if re-quired as per load, networked and connectedappropriately to the state transmission system

(b) Emanating from REDB would be supply feed-ers and one distribution transformer at least inevery village settlement.

(c) Household Electrification from distributiontransformer to connect every household on de-mand.

(d) Wherever above is not feasible (it is nei-ther cost effective nor the optimal solutionto provide grid connectivity) decentraliseddistributed generation facilities together withlocal distribution network would be providedso that every household gets access to electric-ity. This would be done either through conven-tional or non-conventional methods of elec-tricity generation whichever is more suitableand economical. Non-conventional sources ofenergy could be utilised even where grid con-nectivity exists provided it is found to be costeffective.

(e) Development of infrastructure would alsocater for requirement of agriculture & othereconomic activities including irrigation pumpsets, small and medium industries, khadi andvillage industries, cold chain and social ser-vices like health and education.

3. Particular attention would be given in householdelectrification to dalit bastis, tribal areas and otherweaker sections.

4. Rural Electrification Corporation of India, a Gov-ernment of India enterprise will be the nodal agencyat Central Government level to implement the pro-gramme for achieving the goal set by National Com-monMinimum Programme of giving access to elec-tricity to all the households in next five years. Itsrole is being suitably enlarged to ensure timely im-plementation of rural electrification projects.

5. Targeted expansion in access to electricity for ruralhouseholds in the desired timeframe can be achievedif the distribution licensees recover at least the costof electricity and related O&M expenses from con-sumers, except for lifeline support to households be-low the poverty line who would need to be ade-quately subsidised. Subsidies should be properly tar-geted at the intended beneficiaries in the most effi-cient manner. Government recognises the need forproviding necessary capital subsidy and soft long-term debt finances for investment in rural electrifi-cation as this would reduce the cost of supply in ruralareas. Adequate funds would need to be made avail-able for the same through the Plan process. Alsocommensurate organisational support would need tobe created for timely implementation. The CentralGovernment would assist the State Governments inachieving this.

3

6. Necessary institutional framework would need tobe put in place not only to ensure creation of ruralelectrification infrastructure but also to operate andmaintain supply system for securing reliable powersupply[17][18] to consumers. Responsibility of op-eration & maintenance and cost recovery could bedischarged by utilities through appropriate arrange-ments with Panchayats, local authorities, NGOs andother franchisees etc.

7. The gigantic task of rural electrification requires ap-propriate cooperation among various agencies of theState Governments, Central Government and partic-ipation of the community. Education and awarenessprogrammes would be essential for creating demandfor electricity and for achieving the objective of ef-fective community participation.

The electricity industry was restructured by theElectricity Act 2003, which unbundled the verticallyintegrated electricity supply utilities in each state of Indiainto a transmission utility, and a number of generatingand distribution utilities. Electricity Regulatory Com-missions in each state set tariffs for electricity sales. TheAct also enables open access on the transmission system,allowing any consumer (with a load of greater than 1MW) to buy electricity from any generator. Signifi-cantly, it also requires each Regulatory Commission tospecify the minimum percentage of electricity that eachdistribution utility must source from renewable energysources.The introduction of Availability based tariff has broughtabout stability to a great extent in the Indian transmissiongrids. However, presently it is becoming outdated in apower surplus grid. A report in 2005 suggested that therewas room for improvement in terms of the efficiency ofelectricity generation in India, and suggested that two fac-tors possibly responsible for the inefficiency were publicownership of utilities and low capacity utilisation.[19]

3.1 Rural electrification status

See also: Rural Electrification Corporation Limited

4 Oil and gas

India imports nearly 75% of its 4.3 million barrels perday crude oil needs but exports nearly 1.25 million bar-rels per day of refined petroleum products which is nearly30% of its total production of refined oil products. Indiahas built surplus world class refining capacity using im-ported crude oil for exporting refined petroleum products. The net imports of crude oil is lesser by one fourth af-ter accounting exports and imports of refined petroleumproducts.[21]

An ONGC platform at Bombay High in the Arabian Sea

During the financial year 2012–13, the production ofcrude oil is 37.86 million tons and 40,679 million stan-dard cubic meters (nearly 26.85 million tons) natural gas.The net import of crude oil & petroleum products is146.70 million tons worth of Rs 5611.40 billions. Thisincludes 9.534 million tons of LNG imports worth ofRs. 282.15 billions.[22] Internationally, LNG price (OnemmBtu of LNG = 0.1724 barrels of crude oil (boe) =24.36 cubic meters of natural gas = 29.2 litres diesel) isfixed below crude oil price in terms of heating value.[23][4]LNG is slowly gaining its role as direct use fuel in roadand marine transport without regasification.[24][25] In theyear 2012-13, India consumed 15.744 million tons petroland 69.179million tons diesel which are mainly producedfrom imported crude oil at huge foreign exchange out go.Use of natural gas for heating, cooking and electricitygeneration is not economical as more and more locallyproduced natural gas will be converted in to LNG foruse in transport sector to reduce crude oil imports.[26][27]In addition to the conventional natural gas production,coal gasification, coal bed methane, coal mine methaneand Biogas digesters / Renewable natural gas will alsobecome source of LNG forming decentralised base forproduction of LNG to cater to the widely distributeddemand.[28] There is possibility to convert most of theheavy duty vehicles (including diesel driven rail engines)in to LNG fuelled vehicles to reduce diesel consump-tion drastically with operational cost and least pollutionbenefits.[29][30][31] Also, the break even price for switch-ing from imported coal to LNG in electricity generationis estimated near 6 US$/mmBtu.[32]

The state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation(ONGC) acquired shares in oil fields in countries like Su-dan, Syria, Iran, and Nigeria – investments that have ledto diplomatic tensions with the United States.[33] Becauseof political instability in the Middle East and increasingdomestic demand for energy, India is keen on decreas-ing its dependency on OPEC to meet its oil demand, andincreasing its energy security. Several Indian oil com-panies, primarily led by ONGC and Reliance Industries,have started a massive hunt for oil in several regions inIndia, including Rajasthan, Krishna Godavari Basin andnorth-eastern Himalayas. India is developing an offshore

4 6 BIO-FUELS

gas field inMozambique.[34] The proposed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline is a part of India’s plan to meet its increas-ing energy demand.

5 Coal

A coal mine in Jharkhand state

See also: Coal by country and Coal mining in India

India has the world’s 4th largest coal reserves. In India,coal is the bulk of primary energy contributor with 54.5%share out of the total 595 Mtoe in the year 2013.[4] Indiais the third top coal producer in 2013 with 7.6% produc-tion share of coal (including lignite) in the world. Top fivehard and brown coal producing countries in 2013 (2012)are (million tons): China 3,680 (3,645), United States893 (922), India 605 (607), Australia 478 (453) andIndonesia 421 (386). However, India ranks fifth in globalcoal production at 228 mtoe (5.9%) in the year 2013when its inferior quality coal tonnage is converted in totons of oil equivalent.[4] Coal-fired power plants accountfor 59% of India’s installed electricity capacity.[35][36] Af-ter electricity production, coal is also used for cementproduction in substantial quantity.[37] In the year 2013,India imported nearly 95 Mtoe of steam coal and cok-ing coal which is 29% of total consumption to meet thedemand in electricity, cement and steel production.[4]

Gasification of coal or lignite produces syngas or coal gasor coke oven gas which is a mixture of hydrogen, car-bon monoxide and carbon dioxide gases. Coal gas canbe converted in to synthetic natural gas (SNG) by us-ing Fischer–Tropsch process at low pressure and hightemperature.[38] Coal gas can also be produced by un-derground coal gasification where the coal deposits arelocated deep in the ground or uneconomical to mine thecoal.[39] CNG and LNG are emerging as economical al-ternatives to diesel oil with the escalation in internationalcrude oil prices.[40] Synthetic natural gas production tech-nologies have tremendous scope to meet the transportsector requirements fully using the locally available coalin India.[41] Dankuni coal complex is producing syngaswhich is piped to the industrial users in Calcutta.[42]Manycoal based fertiliser plants which are shut down can also

be retrofitted economically to produce SNG as LNG andCNG fetch good price by substituting imports.[43] Re-cently, Indian government fixed the natural gas price atproducer end as 5.61 US$ per mmbtu on net calorificvalue (NCV) basis which is at par with the estimated SNGprice from coal.[44][45]

6 Bio-fuels

Gasification of Char / Coal

Fuel

Tars

Char

H2 CH4

Pyrolysis of carbonaceous fuels

See also: Second-generation biofuels

Gasification of bio mass yields wood gas or syngaswhich can be converted in to substitute natural gas byMethanation. Nearly 750 million tons of non edible (bycattle) biomass is available annually in India which can beput to higher value addition use and substitute importedcrude oil, coal, LNG, urea fertiliser, nuclear fuels, etc. Itis estimated that renewable and carbon neutral biomassresources of India can replace present consumption of allfossil fuels when used productively.[2][46]

Huge quantity of imported coal is being used in pul-verised coal-fired power stations. Raw biomass can notbe used in the pulverised coal mills as they are diffi-cult to grind into fine powder due to caking propertyof raw biomass. However biomass can be used afterTorrefaction in the pulverised coal mills for replacing im-ported coal.[47] North west and southern regions can re-

5

place imported coal use with torrefied biomass where sur-plus agriculture/crop residual biomass is available.Cheaper production cost of algae oil from algae partic-ularly in tropical countries like India would displace theprime position of crude oil in near future.[48]

The former President of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam, is oneof the strong advocaters of Jatropha cultivation for pro-duction of bio-diesel.[49] In his recent speech, the For-mer President said that out of the 6,00,000 km² of wasteland that is available in India over 3,00,000 km² is suit-able for Jatropha cultivation. Once this plant is grown, ithas a useful lifespan of several decades. During its life Ja-tropha requires very little water when compared to othercash crops. A plan for supplying incentives to encouragethe use of Jatropha has been coloured with green stripes.

7 Hydrogen energy

Hydrogen Energy programme started in India after join-ing the IPHE (International Partnership for HydrogenEconomy) in the year 2003. There are nineteen othercountries including Australia, USA, UK, Japan, etc.[50]This global partnership helps India to set up commercialuse of Hydrogen gas as an energy source. This will beimplemented through Public Private Partnership.

8 Nuclear power

Further information: Nuclear power in IndiaIndia boasts a quickly advancing and active nuclear power

The Koodankulam Nuclear power plant (2x1000 MW) in TamilNadu under construction

programme. It is expected to have 20 GW of nuclearcapacity by 2020, though they currently stand as the 9thin the world in terms of nuclear capacity.An achilles heel of the Indian nuclear power programme,however, is the fact that they are not signatories of theNuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This has many timesin their history prevented them from obtaining nucleartechnology vital to expanding their use of nuclear indus-try. Another consequence of this is that much of their

programme has been domestically developed, much liketheir nuclear weapons programme. United States-IndiaPeaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act seems to be away to get access to advanced nuclear technologies forIndia.Further information: India’s three stage nuclear powerprogramme

India has been using imported enriched uranium and areunder International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safe-guards, but it has developed various aspects of the nu-clear fuel cycle to support its reactors. Development ofselect technologies has been strongly affected by limitedimports. Use of heavy water reactors has been particu-larly attractive for the nation because it allows Uraniumto be burnt with little to no enrichment capabilities. Indiahas also done a great amount of work in the developmentof a Thorium centred fuel cycle. While Uranium depositsin the nation are extremely limited, there aremuch greaterreserves of Thorium and it could provide hundreds oftimes the energy with the same mass of fuel. The factthat Thorium can theoretically be utilised in heavy waterreactors has tied the development of the two. A prototypereactor that would burn Uranium-Plutonium fuel while ir-radiating a Thorium blanket is under construction at theMadras/Kalpakkam Atomic Power Station.Uranium used for the weapons programme has been sep-arate from the power programme, using Uranium fromscant indigenous reserves.

9 Hydro electricity

Srisailam Dam with 1670 MW hydro power capacity, AndhraPradesh

See also: Electricity sector in India

India is endowed with economically exploitable and vi-able hydro potential assessed to be about 84,000 MWat 60% capacity factor.[51] In addition, 6,780 MW interms of installed capacity from Small, Mini, and Mi-cro Hydel schemes have been assessed. Also, 56 sites

6 11 SOLAR ENERGY

for pumped storage schemes with an aggregate installedcapacity of 94,000 MW have been identified for cateringto peak electricity demand and water pumping for irriga-tion needs. It is the most widely used form of renewableenergy. The hydro-electric potential of India ranks 5th interms of exploitable hydro-potential on global scenario.The installed capacity of hydro power is 41,267 MW asof March, 2015.[16] India ranks sixth in hydro electric-ity generation globally after China, Canada, Brazil, USAand Russia in the year 2013. During the year 2013, thetotal hydro electricity generation in India is 132 billionkWh which works out to 25,000 MW at 60% capacityfactor.[4] Till now, hydroelectricity sector is dominatedby the state and central government owned companies butthis sector is going to grow faster with the participation ofprivate sector for developing the hydro potential locatedin the Himalaya mountain ranges including north east ofIndia.[52] However the hydro power potential in centralIndia forming part of Godavari, Mahanadi and Narmadariver basins has not yet been developed on major scaledue to potential opposition from the tribal population.Pumped storage schemes are perfect centralised peakingpower stations for the load management in the electric-ity grid. Pumped storage schemes would be in high de-mand for meeting peak load demand and storing the sur-plus electricity as India graduates from electricity deficitto electricity surplus. They also produce secondary /sea-sonal power at no additional cost when rivers are flood-ing with excess water. Storing electricity by other alter-native systems such as batteries, compressed air storagesystems, etc. is more costlier than electricity productionby standby generator. India has already established nearly6800 MW pumped storage capacity which is part of itsinstalled hydro power plants.[53]

10 Wind power

Progress in India’s installed wind power generating capacity since2006

Main article: Wind power in India

India has the fifth largest installed wind power capacity inthe world.[54] As of 31March 2015, the installed capacity

of wind power was 23,444 MW an increase of 2312 MWover the previous year[55][56] Wind power accounts nearly8.5% of India’s total installed power generation capacityand generated 28.314 billion kWh in the fiscal year 2014-15 which is nearly 2.6% of total electricity generation.[57]The capacity utilisation factor is nearly 15 % in the fis-cal year 2014-15. The Ministry of New and RenewableEnergy (MNRE) of India has announced a revised es-timation of the potential wind power resource (exclud-ing offshore wind power potential) from 49,130 MW as-sessed at 50m Hub heights to 102,788 MW assessed at80m Hub height at 15% capacity factor.

11 Solar energy

Main articles: Solar power in India and Growth of pho-tovoltaicsIndia’s solar energy insolation is about 5,000 T kWh per

Solar Resource Map of India

year (i.e. ~ 600 TW), far more than its current total pri-mary energy consumption.[58][59] India’s long-term solarpotential could be unparalleled in the world because it hasthe ideal combination of both high solar insolation and abig potential consumer base density.[60][61] With a majorsection of its citizens still surviving off-grid, India’s gridsystem is considerably under-developed. Availability ofcheap solar can bring electricity to people, and bypassthe need of installation of expensive grid lines. Also amajor factor influencing a region’s energy intensity is thecost of energy consumed for temperature control. Sincecooling load requirements are roughly in phase with thesun’s intensity, cooling from intense solar radiation couldmake perfect energy-economic sense in the subcontinent,

7

whenever the required technology becomes competitivelycheaper.Installation of solar power plants require nearly 2.4hectares (6 acres) land per MW capacity which is simi-lar to coal-fired power plants when life cycle coal mining,consumptive water storage & ash disposal areas are alsoaccounted and hydro power plants when submergencearea of water reservoir is also accounted. 1.33 millionMW capacity solar plants can be installed in India on its1% land (32,000 square km). There are vast tracts of landsuitable for solar power in all parts of India exceeding 8%of its total area which are unproductive barren and devoidof vegetation.[62][63] Part of waste lands (32,000 squarekm) when installed with solar power plants can produce2000 billion kWh of electricity (two times the total gen-eration in the year 2013-14) with land productivity/yieldof 1.5 million Rs per acre (6 Rs/kWh price) which is atpar with many industrial areas and many times more thanthe best productive irrigated agriculture lands. Moreover,these solar power units are not dependent on supply of anyraw material and are self productive. There is unlimitedscope for solar electricity to replace all fossil fuel energyrequirements (natural gas, coal, lignite and crude oil) ifall the marginally productive lands are occupied by solarpower plants in future. The solar power potential of Indiacan meet perennially to cater per capita energy consump-tion at par with USA/Japan for the peak population in itsdemographic transition.[64]

Synergy with irrigation water pumping and hydropower stations

1977 1981 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Price history of silicon PV cellsin US$ per watt

$76.00

$0.30

Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance & pv.energytrend.com

$/w

att

Price history of silicon PV cells since 1977. The great thing aboutsolar power is that it is a technology and not a fuel. It is unlimitedand the more it is deployed the cheaper it would be.[65] Whilethe more limited fossil fuels are used, the more expensive theybecome.

The major disadvantage of solar power (PV type) is thatit can not produce electricity during the night time andcloudy day time also. In India, this disadvantage can beovercome by installing pumped-storage hydroelectricitystations. Ultimate electricity requirement for river water

pumping (excluding ground water pumping) is 570 billionkWh to pump one cubic meter of water for each squaremeter area by 125 m height on average for irrigating 140million hectares of net sown area (42% of total land) forthree crops in a year.[66] This is achieved by utilising allthe usable river waters by interlinking Indian rivers.[67]These river water pumping stations would also be en-visaged with pumped-storage hydroelectricity features togenerate electricity during the night time. These pumped-storage stations would work at 200% water pumping re-quirement during the day time and generate electricityat 50% of total capacity during the night time. Also,all existing and future hydro power stations can be ex-panded with additional pumped-storage hydroelectricityunits to cater night time electricity consumption. Most ofthe ground water pumping power can be met directly bysolar power during daytime.[68]

Electricity driven vehiclesThe retail prices of petrol and diesel are high in Indiato make electricity driven vehicles more economical asmore and more electricity is generated from solar energyin near future without appreciable environmental effects.During the year 2013, many IPPs offered to sell solarpower below 6.50 Rs/kWh to feed in to the low voltage (<33 KV) grid.[69] This price is below the affordable elec-tricity retail tariff for the solar power to replace petrol anddiesel use in transport sector.The retail price of diesel is 53.00 Rs/litre in the year2012-13. The affordable electricity retail price (860kcal/kWh at 75% input electricity to shaft power ef-ficiency) to replace diesel (lower heating value 8572kcal/litre at 40% fuel energy to crank shaft efficiency) is9.97 Rs/kWh. The retail price of petrol is 75.00 Rs/litrein the year 2012-13. The affordable electricity retailprice (860 kcal/kWh at 75% input electricity to shaftpower efficiency) to replace petrol (lower heating value7693 kcal/litre at 33% fuel energy to crank shaft effi-ciency) is 19.06 Rs/kWh. In the year 2012-13, India con-sumed 15.744 million tons petrol and 69.179 million tonsdiesel which are mainly produced from imported crudeoil at huge foreign exchange out go.[22]

V2G is also feasible with electricity driven vehicles tocontribute for catering to the peak load in the electricitygrid. The electricity driven vehicles would become popu-lar in future when its energy storage / battery technologybecomes more long lasting and maintenance free.

12 Policy framework

In general, India’s strategy is the encouragement of thedevelopment of renewable sources of energy by the useof incentives by the federal and state governments. Otherexamples of encouragement by incentive include the useof nuclear energy (India Nuclear Cooperation PromotionAct), promoting windfarms such as Muppandal, and solar

8 14 ELECTRICITY AS SUBSTITUTE TO IMPORTED LPG AND KEROSENE

energy (Ralegaon Siddhi).A long-term energy policy perspective is provided by theIntegrated Energy Policy Report 2006 which providespolicy guidance on energy-sector growth.[70] Increasingenergy consumption associated primarily with activitiesin transport, mining, and manufacturing in India needsrethinking India’s energy production.Recent steep fall in international oil prices due to shale oilproduction boom, would tilt the energy policy in favour ofcrude oil / natural gas.[71][72]

13 Energy trading with neighbour-ing countries

The per capita electricity consumption is low comparedto many countries despite cheaper electricity tariff inIndia.[73] Despite low electricity per capita consumptionin India, the country is going to achieve surplus electric-ity generation during the 12th plan (2012 to 2017) periodprovided its coal production and transport infrastructureis developed adequately.[74][75][76] India has been export-ing electricity to Bangladesh and Nepal and importing ex-cess electricity in Bhutan.[77][78] Surplus electricity can beexported to the neighbouring countries in return for natu-ral gas supplies from Pakistan, Bangladesh andMyanmar.Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan are producing sub-stantial natural gas and using for electricity genera-tion purpose. Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan pro-duce 55 million cubic metres per day (mcmd), 9 mcmdand 118 mcmd out of which 20 mcmd, 1.4 mcmdand 34 mcmd are consumed for electricity generationrespectively.[79][80] Whereas the natural gas production inIndia is not even adequate to meet its non-electricity re-quirements.Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan have proven reservesof 184 billion cubic metres (bcm), 283 bcm and 754bcm respectively. There is ample opportunity for mu-tually beneficial trading in energy resources with thesecountries.[81] India can supply its surplus electricity toPakistan and Bangladesh in return for the natural gas im-ports by gas pipe lines. Similarly India can develop onBOOT basis hydro power projects in Bhutan, Nepal andMyanmar. India can also enter into long term power pur-chase agreements with China for developing the hydropower potential in Brahmaputra river basin of Tibet re-gion. India can also supply its surplus electricity to SriLanka by undersea cable link. There is ample trading syn-ergy for India with its neighbouring countries in securingits energy requirements.[2][17][18]

14 Electricity as substitute to im-ported LPG and kerosene

The net import of LPG is 6.093 million tons and thedomestic consumption is 13.568 million tons with Rs.41,546 crores subsidy to the domestic consumers in theyear 2012-13.[22] The LPG import content is nearly 40%of total consumption in India. The affordable electricityretail price (860 kcal/kWh at 90% heating efficiency) toreplace LPG (lower heating value 11,000 kcal/kg at 75%heating efficiency) in domestic cooking is 6.47 Rs/kWhwhen the retail price of LPG cylinder is Rs 1000 (with-out subsidy) with 14.2 kg LPG content. Replacing LPGconsumption with electricity reduces its imports substan-tially.The domestic consumption of Kerosene is 7.349 milliontons with Rs. 30,151 crores subsidy to the domestic con-sumers in the year 2012-13. The subsidised retail priceof Kerosene is 13.69 Rs/litre whereas the export/importprice is 48.00 Rs/litre. The affordable electricity retailprice(860 kcal/kWh at 90% heating efficiency) to replaceKerosene (lower heating value 8240 kcal/litre at 75%heating efficiency) in domestic cooking is 6.00 Rs/kWhwhen Kerosene retail price is 48 Rs/litre (without sub-sidy).During the year 2013-14, The plant load factor (PLF)of coal-fired thermal power stations is only 65.43%whereas these stations can run above 85% PLF comfort-ably provided there is adequate electricity demand in thecountry.[82] The additional electricity generation at 85%PLF is nearly 240 billion units which is adequate to re-place all the LPG and Kerosene consumption in domes-tic sector. The incremental cost of generating additionalelectricity is only their coal fuel cost which is less than 3Rs/kWh. Enhancing the PLF of coal-fired stations andencouraging domestic electricity consumers to substituteelectricity in place of LPG and Kerosene in householdcooking, would reduce the government subsidies and idlecapacity of thermal power stations can be put to use eco-nomically. The domestic consumers who are willing tosurrender the subsidised LPG / Kerosene permits or eligi-ble for subsidised LPG / Kerosene permits, may be givenfree electricity connection and subsidised electricity tar-iff.During the year 2014, IPPs are offering to sell solarpower below 5.50 Rs/kWh to feed in to the high volt-age grid.[83] This price is below the affordable electricitytariff for the solar power to replace LPG and Keroseneuse (after including subsidy on LPG & Kerosene) in do-mestic sector. Two wheelers and three wheelers consume62% and 6% of petrol respectively in India. The savedLPG/Autogas replaced by electricity in domestic sectorcan be used by two and three wheelers with operationalcost and least pollution benefits.[29]

In the year 2015, the levelized tariff in US$ for solar elec-tricity has fallen below 4 cents/kWh which is far cheaper

9

than the electricity sale price from coal based electric-ity generation plants in India.[84] Solar electricity price isgoing to become the benchmark price for deciding theother fuel (Petroleum products, LNG, CNG, LPG, coal,lignite, biomass, etc.) prices based on their ultimate useand advantages.

15 Distancing government frompower sector

The new energy policy aims at distancing governmentfrom power sector. This resulted in drastically cuttingof budgetory support to the sector[85]

16 See also

17 External links

• Ready Reference Policy Handbook about India atone place

• Latest news about Indian Power Sector at one place

• Highlights of Rajasthan Solar Policy 2011

• Solar to light up Rural India

• Map of oil and gas infrastructure (incomplete)

• India’s River-Linking Scheme: A case of troubledwaters

18 References[1] India’s Widening Energy Deficit

[2] “Energy resources in India”

[3] “World energy consumption clock”. US debt clock org.Retrieved 2014-08-06.

[4] “Statistical Review of world energy 2015” (PDF). Re-trieved 17 June 2015.

[5] India Energy Profile - EIA

[6] India Electricity Output Misses Target

[7] Indian Power Plants Boost Coal Imports 18%, MarketWatch Says

[8]

[9] “India energy security scenarios up to 2047 (IESS 2047)".NITI Aayog, GoI. Retrieved 29 August 2014.

[10] Wind energy in India: Chinese company sold 125 windturbines of 2 MW

[11] “Will try to achieve pledged renewable energy targets inless than four and half years: Piyush Goyal”. Retrieved 9November 2015.

[12] “Slowdown not to affect India’s nuclear plans”. Business-standard.com. 2009-01-21. Retrieved 2010-08-22.

[13] Going nuclear, The Economist

[14] “Growth of Electricity Sector in India from 1947-2015”(PDF). CEA, India. Retrieved 13 June 2015.

[15] “Gensets add up to under half of installed power capacity;August, 2014”. Retrieved 13 May 2015.

[16] "“Total installed capacity in India” (PDF). CEA, India.Retrieved 13 June 2015.

[17] “Electricity online trading in India”

[18] “Integrating European Electricity Markets” (PDF). Re-trieved 15 May 2013.

[19] Madhu Khanna, Kusum Mundra, Aman Ullah (19 May2005). “Parametric and Semi-Parametric Estimation ofthe Effect of Firm Attributes on Efficiency: ElectricityGenerating Industry in India”. Journal of InternationalTrade and Economic Development. pp. 419–436. Re-trieved 2011-09-01. Vol. 8, No. 4 ... Public ownershipand low capacity utilisation are found to be significant de-terminants of inefficiency in the electricity generating in-dustry in India.

[20] “Progress report of village electrification as on 30-09-2015” (PDF). CEA.

[21] “Select 'Energy' sections of India. The world Fact book.”.Retrieved 21 April 2014.

[22] “Indian PNG statistics” (PDF). Retrieved 25 April 2014.

[23] “World LNG Estimated March 2015 Landed Prices”(PDF). Retrieved 5 March 2015.

[24] Petronet pitches for LNG as auto fuel

[25] “Assessment of the fuel cycle impact of liquefied naturalgas as used in international shipping” (PDF). Retrieved 6June 2014.

[26] The On-Road LNG Transportation Market in the US

[27] “Gas at the gates of oil’s transport fuel citadel”. Retrieved6 June 2014.

[28] “Chapter 7 of World LNG Report - 2014 Edition” (PDF).Retrieved 17 April 2015.

[29] “Sections 10.1.3 to 10.2.8, Auto Fuel Vision and policy,2025, GoI” (PDF). Retrieved 16 June 2014.

[30] “LNG vehicles”. Retrieved 25 June 2014.

[31] “Why LNG for heavy vehicles?". Retrieved 25 June 2014.

[32] “Page 71 of World LNG Report - 2015 Edition” (PDF).Retrieved 17 June 2015.

[33] “Energy Security India, Allianz Knowledge”. 2008-05-27. Retrieved 2008-07-03.

10 18 REFERENCES

[34] “Indian State Owned Energy Firms Plan $6 bn Investmentin Mozambique Gas Field”. 2008-05-27. Retrieved 3May 2015.

[35] “Power sector at a glance: All India data”. Ministry ofPower, Government of India. September 2013.

[36] World Coal Institute – India “The coal resource, a com-prehensive overview of coal” Check |url= scheme (help).World Coal Institute. March 2009.

[37] “Coalnomics” (PDF). September 2014.

[38] “Test Year for Chinese Coal-Based SNG” (PDF). Re-trieved 25 August 2014.

[39] “Chinese firm plans Thar coal mining in Pakistan”. Re-trieved 25 August 2014.

[40] “LNG use in High horse power off road vehicles”. Re-trieved 25 August 2014.

[41] “Next energy revolution will be on roads and railroads”.Retrieved 25 August 2014.

[42] “GAIL, Coal India in pact to expand Dankuni gasproject”. Retrieved 25 August 2014.

[43] “Coal India, Gail to invest 9000 crores in Talcher Plant”.Retrieved 25 December 2014.

[44] “Govt raises natural gas price to $5.61 per unit”. Re-trieved 25 October 2014.

[45] “Conversion of Coal to Substitute Natural Gas (SNG)"(PDF). Retrieved 2014-08-06.

[46] “Productive usage of Biomass”

[47] “The upgrading of solid biomasss by means of Torrefac-tion” (PDF). Retrieved 2014-09-18.

[48] “Algenol and Reliance launch algae fuels demonstrationproject in India”. Retrieved 29 May 2015.

[49] “Kalam to attend Jatropha planters’ convention”. IndiaeNews Pvt. Ltd. Retrieved 2006-07-08.

[50] “Hydrogen Fuel Cell Engines and Related Technologies”(PDF). Retrieved 2014-08-28.

[51] “Hydro Development Plan for 12th Plan (2012-17)"(PDF). Central Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power,Government of India. September 2008. Retrieved 21 Au-gust 2014.

[52] “List of Hydro projects under execution” (PDF). CentralElectricity Authority, Ministry of Power, Government ofIndia. April 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2014.

[53] “Pumped storage hydro power plant” (PDF). Retrieved2014-08-27.

[54] “Wind atlas of India”. Retrieved 2014-08-28.

[55] “Indian Wind Energy and Economy”. Indianwind-power.com. Retrieved 2013-08-06.

[56] Ministry of New and Renewable Energy - Achievements.Mnre.gov.in (2013-10-31). Retrieved on 2013-12-06.

[57] “NLDC monthly reports (refer table 7 of each month)".Retrieved 6 May 2015.

[58] Sustainable production of solar electricity with particularreference to the Indian economy (publication archived inScienceDirect, shows numbers in detail, but needs sub-scription / access via university)

[59] Renewing India - Under Heading:Solar Photovoltaics

[60] Solar LEDs Brighten Rural India’s Future

[61] Solar plan for Indian computers

[62] “Waste lands atlas of India, 2011”. Retrieved 30 May2014.

[63] “Geographical Area and Its Effective Utilization”. Re-trieved 30 May 2014.

[64] Population pyramids of India from 1950 to 2100

[65] “Targetting Solar Power Tariff of Rs.4 per unit: Goyal”.Retrieved 7 November 2015.

[66] India - Land and Water Resources at a glance, CWC (ac-cessdate 12 June 2014)

[67] National perspectives for water resources development(accessdate 12 June 2014)

[68] Brown, Lester R. (November 29, 2013). “India’s danger-ous 'food bubble'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from theoriginal on December 4, 2013. Retrieved Dec 10, 2013.

[69] “Solar power bidders accept Rs 6.49/unit offer from AP”.Retrieved 27 May 2014.

[70] “Integrated Energy Policy Report 2006” (PDF). Retrieved31 January 2015.

[71] “Oil’s Heading For $40, For Shale Oil Is A Free MarketAnd Opec’s A Cartel”. Retrieved 9 January 2015.

[72] “Everything Has Changed: Oil And The End Of OPEC”.Retrieved 31 January 2015.

[73] “Tariff & duty of electricity supply in India” (PDF). CEA,Govt. of India. March 2014. Retrieved Aug 12, 2014.

[74] “Power Minister Piyush Goyal says power available forfree”. Retrieved 1 May 2015.

[75] “Daily report of power situation, Ministry of Power,GoI,”. Retrieved 17 February 2013.

[76] “See Reports section, National load dispatch centre, Min-istry of Power, GoI,”. Retrieved 17 February 2013.

[77] “India To Export Another 500 MW Power To BangladeshIn Next 12 Months: NLDC”. Retrieved 15 July 2015.

[78] “Table 13, Monthly operation report, March 2015”(PDF). POSOCO, Govt. of India. March 2015. Re-trieved April 24, 2015.

[79] “Select 'Energy' sections of Pakistan, Burma, Bangladesh,Nepal, Bhutan & Sri Lanka. The world Fact book.”. Re-trieved 17 February 2013.

11

[80] “LNG: The whole truth in Pakistan.”. Retrieved 3 May2015.

[81] “Saarc Chamber Pushes for Seamless Regional EnergyTrade”. Retrieved 31 July 2015.

[82] “All India coal fired stations performance (2013-14)"(PDF). Retrieved 27 May 2014.

[83] “Madhya Pradesh plans India’s largest Solar PowerPlant)". Retrieved 3 August 2014.

[84] “NV Energy buys utility-scale solar at record low priceunder 4 cents/kWh”. Retrieved 23 July 2015.

[85] ‘No proposal to bring down power price’ - Dr D Shina

12 19 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

19 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

19.1 Text• Energy policy of India Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_policy_of_India?oldid=689809644 Contributors: Edward, Kaysov,Utcursch, Neutrality, Shiftchange, Rich Farmbrough, Kjkolb, RainbowOfLight, Dr Gangrene, Rjwilmsi, Kolbasz,Wavelength, Rsrikanth05,Welsh, Deepak~enwiki, Hemant 17, DoriSmith, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Igrek, Gilliam, Hmains, Chris the speller, Theanphibian,SMasters, Hu12, Quaeler, Spartian, ChrisCork, Neelix, Mattisse, Gralo, IndianGeneralist, Maheshkumaryadav, Nposs, Beagel, R'n'B,CommonsDelinker, Whaatt, Gbhuvanesh, Johnfos, Timmonsgray, SieBot, Suntech, Lightmouse, Johka784, Aravind V R, Alokprasad84,ImageRemovalBot, Zonneson, SchreiberBike, Belasd, XLinkBot, Veryhuman, Addbot, CactusWriter, Emperor Genius, Luckas-bot, THENWHO WAS PHONE?, AnomieBOT, Dewan357, MohitSingh, Tomwsulcer, GrouchoBot, Lalit Jagannath, Mdthiyagu, Gunjan verma81,Incidious, Cekradhakrishnan, King Zebu, Reconsider the static, Cnwilliams, Jesse V., Alokagrawal8, RjwilmsiBot, Happytohelp21, Johnof Reading, Dewritech, GoingBatty, Wikipelli, Raj6644, Taxiboy277, Ashish itct, Chandraguptamaurya, AbhisheksinghWIKI, Kwdt2,Adityamadhav83, BG19bot, SolarSoft, Cold Season, Habitmelon, Ingenuser, Skydoc28, SFK2, Monkbot and Anonymous: 98

19.2 Images• File:Coal_mine_in_Dhanbad,_India.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Coal_mine_in_Dhanbad%2C_India.jpg License: CC BY 2.0 Contributors: http://www.flickr.com/photos/94088966@N00/182619562/sizes/l/ Original artist: http://www.flickr.com/photos/94088966@N00/182619562/

• File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Originalartist: ?

• File:Crystal_energy.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Crystal_energy.svg License: LGPL Contribu-tors: Own work conversion of Image:Crystal_128_energy.png Original artist: Dhatfield

• File:Flag_of_India.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Flag_of_India.svg License: Public domain Contributors:? Original artist: ?

• File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

• File:Gasification.gif Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Gasification.gif License: Public domain Contribu-tors: Transferred from en.wikipedia by Ronhjones Original artist: Claush66 at en.wikipedia

• File:India_Windpower_Installed_capacity_by_year.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/India_Windpower_Installed_capacity_by_year.png License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Skydoc28

• File:Indian_girls_making_tea_over_open_fire.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Indian_girls_making_tea_over_open_fire.jpg License: CC BY 2.0 Contributors: Flickr Original artist: meg and rahul

• File:Kudankulam_NPP.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Kudankulam_NPP.jpg License: Attribu-tion Contributors: en:International Atomic Energy Agency ([1]) Original artist: Petr Pavlicek/IAEA

• File:ONGC_Oil_Platform.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/ONGC_Oil_Platform.jpg License: CCBY 2.0 Contributors: ONGC Oil and Gas Processing Platform. Original artist: Nandu Chitnis from Pune, India

• File:People_icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/People_icon.svg License: CC0 Contributors: Open-Clipart Original artist: OpenClipart

• File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ?Original artist: ?

• File:Price_history_of_silicon_PV_cells_since_1977.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Price_history_of_silicon_PV_cells_since_1977.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work, based on Hanjin's 2013-version (enespañol), amended with average sales prices for 2014 and 2015. Original artist: Rfassbind

• File:Pyrolysis.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d9/Pyrolysis.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors:I created this work, based on File:Pyrolysis.gif Original artist:Mintrick (talk)

• File:Rstps4.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Rstps4.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Ownwork Original artist: Getsuhas08

• File:Solar_Resource_Map_of_India.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Solar_Resource_Map_of_India.png License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: http://solargis.info/doc/71 Original artist: SolarGIS © 2011 GeoModel Solar s.r.o.

• File:SrisailamDam01-India.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/SrisailamDam01-India.jpg License:Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Raj srikanth800

• File:Symbol_book_class2.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Symbol_book_class2.svg License: CCBY-SA 2.5 Contributors: Mad by Lokal_Profil by combining: Original artist: Lokal_Profil

• File:Symbol_question.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e0/Symbol_question.svg License: Public domain Con-tributors: ? Original artist: ?

19.3 Content license• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0