The five vows

Powering green buildings and zero-emission vehicles must find a place among the priorities of the new government

The new government will be taking over at a time when power from solar and wind — typically available for less than Rs 3 per unit — is cheaper than power from many other conventional sources. That makes a case for electrification of many sectors, including mobility. The five areas that could do with urgent attention are:

Imbalance correction: If a power distribution company buys electricity for say, Rs 4 a unit, and sells it forward at Rs 3.70, there is no formula that can make it viable. With every unit sold, it adds to its losses. Either the buying cost has to come down or the selling cost has to go up or a bit of both needs to happen to prevent this fundamental imbalance creating havoc in the sector. It is partly this gap (currently at Rs 0.29, as per the government’s UDAY portal) that leads to producers of renewable energy being told often not to feed power to the grid (curtailment). For the power that they do inject, they are reportedly facing delayed payments of as much as 12 months, while consumers are still suffering power cuts. There has to be an incentive to produce power, and to supply power in an uninterrupted fashion.

Clean power 2.0: India already has an aggressive clean energy target: 175 gigawatts by 2022, of which 100 gigawatts are solar, and 60 gigawatts are wind. Another policy push is required to ensure that these targets are met. There should be far more activity in rooftop solar than we are seeing. Solar panels floating on ponds, lakes and dams — that enable better use of existing transmission infrastructure, prevent water evaporation and also manage to skip over people-displacement issues — look promising. The stage also needs to be set for the next set of clean energy targets, beyond 2022. At the consumers’ end, they should be able to choose their power supplier, as they do their mobile phone service provider, and have an option to consume only green power.  

 

Green buildings: There is a case for smart construction of buildings using smart materials and design, so that they consume less energy for lighting and cooling.  There are smart alternatives to air-conditioning, which accounts for about 9 per cent of current electricity demand globally, and could grow exponentially. Asia is the centre of air-conditioning growth, with China, India and Indonesia projected to be in the lead over the next few decades, according to BloombergNEF. We also need to use the most efficient air conditioners, as well as move fully to efficient appliances: fans, refrigerators, coolers etc.

Zero-emission vehicles: Electric cars, bikes, buses, trucks and trains are carving their space in the mobility market. The first set of electric buses are already plying in various cities in India, and some electric cars can be seen on the roads. That number will increase. Last week, Ratan Tata announced an investment in Ola Electric Mobility, which is a unit carved out of ride-hailing firm Ola. Countries like Japan are placing their bets on hydrogen as a fuel. India needs to finalise a strategy so that it can move faster towards a vehicle fleet with zero emissions. 

Clean air: The purpose of activity in all the segments above is to reach a stage where the air that we breathe is not poisonous. Rising sales of air purifiers is not a positive sign. The National Clean Air Programme launched in January 2019, focusing on improving the air quality of India’s 102 worst cities, is a first step. Real-time air monitoring will trigger real-time action to control pollutants, whether it is temporary closure of coal plants or a short-term limit on the number of vehicles on the road, as was the case in Delhi a couple of years ago. To achieve clean air Nirvana however, the targets need to be far more ambitious, and actual activity on the ground needs to pick up pace.

The author is editor, global policy for BloombergNEF.

Email: vgombar@bloomberg.net