Essay on Energy Security in India: Challenges and Opportunities
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Energy Security in India: Challenges and Opportunities
Energy is an exceedingly crucial resource in a nation’s development and progress. Energy makes the world go. The world literally runs on power; if we have enough of it, we have more power; and if we have surplus of it, we surely have a greater power to accomplish our national goals. India is one of the most promising country, economy, market, and production hub the world is looking at with high expectations.
In order to jump from our present state to a higher state of development and advancement, we require the booster power of power (electricity). All the machines, computers, super computers, trains, giant industries, etc. run on electricity. So, one thing is certain – energy is indispensable for the progress and development of any country.
The energy security in India is in nascent stage. Demand for energy has been constantly rising in India. The estimated electricity consumption has increased from 4,55,749 GWh during 2006-07 to 10,01,191 GWh in 2015-16. Per-capita Energy Consumption (PEC) has also increased from 14,612 Mega Joules in 2006-07 to 22,042 Mega Joules in 2015-16.
In future also this demand is going to rise many more times. India has all the required resources to produce much more power than the demand. India has all the resources to produce energy with renewable sources. India has plenty of solar energy potential. India is in the sunny zone of the world. The country receives solar energy equivalent to more than 5000 trillion KWH per year, which is far more than its total annual energy consumption. Besides, no other energy source is as renewable and clean as the solar energy is. Taking both environmental and economic cost, solar energy works cheaper than fossil fuel resources. Tapping and using this abundant solar energy will not only solve the country’s energy demand, but also bring down dangerous levels of air pollution in the country.
Similarly, energy security in India can be ensured by tapping wind, geo-thermal, hydroelectrical, tidal resources. Ensuring energy security is very much viable. India has to ensure energy security by producing and generating energy through clean and green ways, without causing least damage to the environment.
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Stakes for India become particularly high, as it aims to be a developed nation by uplifting many from clutches of poverty, up scaling basic infrastructure, provisioning of basic necessities developing human skill, employment generation and manufacturing abilities. Energy is pivotal for given objectives, and such ambitious target achievement will push energy consumption many folds. Unfortunately, India is energy starved in terms of availability per unit and development of other sources of at present. Multi-dimensional aspect of energy makes it a matter of national security.
Types of Energy
Energy is categorised as conventional and non-conventional. The Conventional Sources of Energy includes coal, petroleum, natural gas etc. while the non-conventional energy consists of solar, wind, geothermal, and biogas energy. The other classification is on scale of use i.e. commercial purpose using coal, oil and gas, hydro, nuclear etc. and non-commercial like fuel wood, charcoal, cow dung or animal waste.
The total energy mix of the country is predominantly fossil fuel, with coal being the largest contributor. According the data released by the Central Electrical Authority of the totalled installed electricity generation capacity, highest input of 61 % was from Coal. This share of fossil fuel jumps to 70% once contribution of gas is included. However, the share of renewable energy (RES) has been witnessing a rise and constitutes 13% of the total installed capacity in the country. Nuclear staggers at 2% merely.
Growing Energy Demand
India is the fastest growing economy with FY16 recording a 7.6 % GDP growth. A strategic component of this growth is the easy and cheap accessibility of the energy. The CAGR in India’s primary energy demand for the period 2006-10 was by 8.3% and shows an increase corresponding to the needs of an expanding economy. Looking at sector wise energy demand, the largest has been from industry, which doubled in value addition with corresponding increase in commercial energy usage share at 45%.
The overall pace of growth in energy sector that once had high share of renewables (mainly from large hydro projects) in its energy mix has over time tilted towards a larger increasing fossil fuel based share in its generation capacity to meet the increasing demand. Further, the data FY 14 show that India’s net energy import bill was around 6.3% of GDP to support the supply shortages, and it can spike significantly in the next decade.
According to Indian Energy Security Scenarios (IESS) which has been developed as energy scenario building tool, India’s usage and demand at 2047 remains grim. Sector specific statistics show that energy demand from the Industry will jump 5 times from the current level. Similarly with increased economic development, there is expected to be an increase in mobility and demand for both inter-city and intra-city passenger transport in India over the next few decades. This will put an additional pressure. Apart from this Agriculture, Cooking, Electricity, Telecom are other areas where the demand is likely to scale-up steadily.
The government aims complete rural electrification by 2020. So far the energy demand of rural population was met through traditional sources like fire wood, or kerosene. The shift that is underway is towards conventional sources of energy that invariably has increased pressure in the demand of the fossil fuel based energy.