Column – English
CATEGORY : Energy Transformation
Renewable Energy waiver no longer a boon
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Financial ExpressInvestments in ISTS grid infrastructure dedicated to RE projects have surged over the past decade, as new transmission lines and substation capacities have been developed to transfer power from RE-rich states to low-RE states. The inter-state transmission system (ISTS) charge and loss waivers for renewable energy (RE) between Indian states [...]
Warming to a false dawn: It is time the world regulates the sector of solar geoengineering
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Financial ExpressUnfortunately, the Vienna Convention is toothless, and its provisions have been ignored. Therefore, rebooting the Vienna Convention to govern SRM research is essential. Solar radiation modification (SRM), a group of technologies to deliberately reflect sunlight into space to cool the planet, is now being seriously explored as a solution to [...]
Switching to Green Power Justly
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Financial ExpressAs can be seen from the case of Maharashtra, planning is essential for a just transition One only has to read the newspaper headlines to realise that climate change is no longer a distant threat. For instance, a headline from January this year announced, “Mumbai experiences its hottest January day [...]
Net Zero is a win-win
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Heinrich-Böll-StiftungArticle The transformative potential of decarbonisation is that it can meet socio-economic goals better than current development pathways. The Paris Agreement that India signed alongside 195 other countries in 2015 came into effect on 4 November 2016. Article 4.1 of the Paris Agreement refers to the goal of achieving ‘Net Zero’ through a “balance [...]
India’s Renewables Disparity
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Financial ExpressEven a good policy with the best intentions can have unintended and adverse consequences. The Freight Equalization Scheme (FES) was one such policy meant to promote balanced industrial development throughout the country but ended up impeding the industrialisation of the mineral-rich eastern states. From 1956, consumers across the country got [...]
Energy transition crucial
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Orrisa PostOdisha is known for coal. It is the second biggest coal-producing state, and by 2030, it will be the country’s top coal-producing state. So naturally, Odisha’s electricity production is heavily reliant on coal. Presently, more than 90% of electricity comes from coal-based power plants; renewable energy (RE) sources like solar, [...]
India’s Arctic policy must push Western countries to give up double standards
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Times of India‘We need to act for the Amazon and act for our planet,’ said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when fires ravaged the Amazon rainforest in August 2019. He was joined by many Western countries in preaching the virtues of protecting the ‘global common’ for combating climate change. But the Western [...]
Energy transition and Just Transition must go hand in hand
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Times of IndiaThe writing is on the wall. A few days back, Coal India Limited (CIL), the world’s biggest coal producer and India’s largest CO2 emitter, announced its plans to become a ‘net-zero energy company’ by 2023-24. The company plans to install 3,000 MW of solar power to meet all its electricity [...]
How India can end energy poverty by 2040
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Financial ExpressWhat would be the energy scenario in India in, say, 25 years from now? This is an important political enquiry as the path we choose would have a pivotal role in determining the country’s economic growth, social development and environmental sustainability. But, before gazing into the crystal ball, let’s analyse [...]