India S Renewable Energy Policies

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"India’s Renewable Energy Policies "

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India Contribution

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India’s Renewable Energy Policies

Like the European Union, India has taken impressive strides in promoting renewable sources of energy – principally wind, small hydropower, biomass and solar. Renewable energy currently contributes 5700 MW, accounting for about 4 percent of installed power generation capacity in India.

Though there are many similarities in the policies followed by India and the European Union respectively to promote renewable energy, the justification or rationale for these policies is not identical in the two cases. In the case of the European Union, climate change mitigation (the need to cut down carbon emissions from coal, oil and gas) appears to be the primary consideration for incentives to switch to renewable sources, such as wind and solar energy. The primary considerations driving Indian policy relate to local air pollution, energy security and economic and social development imperatives though, of course, there are also important climate change co-benefits in terms of lowering carbon emissions.

Ambient air pollution

In 1999-2000, more than 85 percent of India’s rural population was dependent on traditional fuels (biomass and cow dung-cake) for their basic energy needs. The use of these fuels in inefficient chulas (cooking stoves) led to high levels of indoor air pollution, causing wide-spread respiratory and eye diseases, particularly among women. India’s goal is to provide cleaner cooking fuels to the entire population by 2012. In addition to LPG, this includes renewable energy solutions such as biogas, improved chulas and solar cookers. By March 2007, 35.2 million improved chulas were introduced and biomass gasifiers produced 75.8 MW of electricity. While these measures are primarily designed to improve ambient air quality and raise health standards, they also have co-benefits in terms of climate change mitigation.

Energy Security

Energy security is an important consideration for a country like India, which is heavily dependent on crude oil imports. Development of renewable energy sources helps moderate the degree of dependence on energy imports. Bio-diesel and ethanol offer immediate possibilities for reducing oil imports. These are the focus areas in India’s bio-fuels programme. Ethanol is produced from sugar cane and is blended with gasoline. In 2004, it was decided, as a first step, to mandate 5 percent blending of petrol with ethanol. A MOU between the Indian sugar Mills Association and Indian Oil Corporation is designed to ensure uninterrupted supplies of ethanol for the programme. Bio-diesel is produced from various oil-bearing seeds and is blended with high-speed diesel. India has launched an ambitious programme for producing bio-diesel. from the Jatropha curcas plant, which grows in arid soils that would otherwise remain uncultivated. Under the National Mission on Bio-diesel, lands in 26 states are being brought under jatropha plantations. The target is a 20 percent blend by the year 2011-12. A National Bio-diesel Board has been created to “promote, finance and support organizations that are engaged in the field of oilseed cultivation and oil processing leading to bio-diesel production”. India’s Bio-diesel Purchase Policy prescribes that public sector oil marketing companies should purchase bio-diesel of prescribed specification from authorized suppliers at a uniform price that will be reviewed every six months.

Energy security considerations also explain the financial incentives offered by the Indian government for harnessing wind power. The private sector has responded well to these incentives. Installed capacity has risen dramatically from 2400 MW in 2003-04 to 6070 MW today. India already has the fourth largest installed wind power capacity in the world.

Development Economics

India’s renewable energy policy contains important provisions for electrification of remote villages and hamlets. In these areas, emphasis is laid on local participation and decentralization of power generation facilities. Because of the high costs of connecting these remote villages to the national grid, it is economical to promote projects based on solar energy, biomass gasifiers and small hydro power plants. As of November 2004, 1744 remote villages and 572 remote hamlets were electrified under this programme. The government provides up to 90 percent financial assistance for non-conventional energy schemes in these areas.

Turning to rural areas in general, decentralized applications of renewable energy include biomass, biogas and solar energy for such uses as cooking, drying farm produce, and home and street lighting); and wind and solar energy for water pumping. The Village Energy Security Programme is intended to meet household, agricultural and commercial requirements of rural areas through locally available resources and indigenously developed technologies.

Renewable Energy in India: a Snapshot

The following chart provides a snapshot picture of renewable energy installations in India as on 31 March 2007.

Biogas plants 3.89 million

Improved Chulhas 35.2 million

Wind Power 6070 MW

Small hydropower 1849 MW

Biomass 1068.3 MW

Solar photovoltaic 2.74 MW

Solar water-heating 1.5 million m2 (collector area)

Waste-to-energy 45.98 MW

An important question of classification

Two vitally important areas – large hydropower and nuclear – rarely find a place in lists of renewable energy sources. In the case of large hydropower plants, the exclusion appears to mainly reflect concern over resettlement questions. Safety, environmental and nuclear proliferation concerns explain the exclusion of nuclear energy from the list of renewable energy sources.

There is a compelling case for including all hydropower projects in the list of energy sources. Resettlement does pose complex problems but these are by no means irresolvable. Likewise, solutions can usually be found to questions of environmental safety related to large dams. All sources of energy have an environmental impact when exploited on a large scale. (Wind energy, for example, is associated with problems of noise pollution.) A balance must be struck between positive and negative environmental impacts. In the case of large hydropower, there are enormous environmental gains in terms of avoided carbon emissions and climate change mitigation. Lending policies of the international and regional financial institutions should take into account the critical role of large hydropower plants for sustainable development.

Nuclear energy poses a more complex problem. While safety issues have been addressed in the latest technologies, there are real political concerns in the case of countries with a poor proliferation record. Countries that are known to have been involved in clandestine transfers or nuclear thefts are rightly excluded from transfers of nuclear technology and materials. On the other hand, the international community pays a heavy price in terms of climate change mitigation by excluding rapidly developing countries with an impeccable nonproliferation record. A case-by-case approach would be appropriate in such cases.

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