Indian power assets have surely progressed on the right path. It just needs accelerated digital momentum.
New Delhi: As sustainability takes priority with nations across the world chalking out their path of recovery, the global energy trends of 2021 necessitate economies to become renewable, electric, and digital. The good news is that India is on the right path – what it needs is accelerated momentum and digitalisation of power systems.
Several economies, developed or developing, including US, China, Britain, and European Union nations, are navigating through some form of energy crisis. The energy demand witnessed a slump globally due to switch to hybrid model of working. Although, the rapid recovery this year resulted in a sudden, steep demand from across sectors.
Despite challenges, it is advantage India
India too has faced its share of power and energy challenges. While it has closely seen through the coal shortage crisis, the rise in fuel prices due to inflated global crude price remains a major concern for governments, businesses, and people, alike. Also, issues pertaining to T&D losses and that of pending dues with discoms persist. However, India’s long-term goals and short-term strategies are by and large right on the target.
First and foremost, India is walking the talk on its sustainability commitments. Despite the huge energy needs of the second largest population and of a developing economy, it has strongly focussed on sustainable development and renewables. This is evident from the fact that of all G20 countries, the Climate Transparency Report 2020 has declared India to be ‘2°C compatible’ for doing its ‘fair share’ to meet its commitment of reducing ‘emissions intensity of GDP by 33-35% by 2030 from the 2005 level’.
India’s focus on renewables and electric
As per International Energy Agency’s India Energy Outlook 2021 report, India ‘exceeds the goals set out in its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement’ as per its stated policies, with the emissions intensity improving by 40% from 2005 to 2030, which is more than its stated target. This progress is primarily driven by India’s pro-renewable energy, pro-electricity state policies.
As of today, while fossil fuels account for 59.9% of electricity produced, renewable energy sources account for 38.4% of power generation. Furthermore, India aims to achieve 450 GW of renewable capacity by 2030. In road transport segment as well, India has pushed the automobile and transport sector to shift to electric mobility and hybrid vehicles, which support blended or biofuels. While the transport sector is expected to double its energy demand in a couple of decades due to improving and expanding road infrastructure and mobility ecosystem, switching to cleaner fuels and boosting electric mobility will cut down on the country’s emission targets.
The recent measures
India’s stated policy, sustainability commitments, and developing trends essentially mean that the country needs to rapidly transform into an “All Electric” ecosystem. Therefore, India needs to amplify cleaner power generation and infuse efficiency in distribution network. The country has already taken several strides in that direction. It has already electrified almost the entire nation and has transitioned to a singular, integrated grid network. In 2021, the central government has taken forward several measures to reform electricity production and distribution in the country.
India has launched the Green Grids initiative and has launched the International Solar Alliance. The government has released the draft National Electricity Policy 2021, which is expected to be enacted soon, bringing in several reforms in power generation, storage, and distribution systems. The government has recently directed its Ministries and Departments to switch to prepaid smart meters systems. Earlier in the year, the Power Ministry launched the ‘Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme – A Reforms-Based and Results-Linked Scheme’ 4 to improve efficiency in operations and mitigate financial challenges faced by the power distribution sector. The ministry has also established Regulatory Compliance Monitoring division, to address the deep rooted compliance challenges.
Digitalising power utilities
While much is being done to modernize and strengthen Indian power system and to ensure its sustainable growth, India needs to rapidly digitalise its electricity production and distribution network. From power generation perspective, the pandemic has shown why more of our power plants need to undergo industrial digitalisation and automation for making systems and processes more agile and resilient as well as for efficiency, cost, and sustainability benefits.
India has to adopt Electricity 4.0 at the earliest, as power generation is fast evolving from linear traditional systems where electricity is produced by companies and used by consumers to more dynamic systems. With greater focus on renewables, today consumers can generate electricity and sell electricity back to grid. This necessitates transformation to a more evolved digital power grid, which supports efficient multiple channels of transmission with reduced leakage and downtime.
Backed by digital technologies, the power grids of the future would leverage Microgrid-as-a-Service systems to ensure continuity in electricity transmission, faster restoration of power to consumers, strengthen power supply, minimise risk of power outages, and safeguard against grid failures by protecting critical operations.
The power utilities are one of the most critical assets for the growth and development of any country. Electricity 4.0 is making electric grids and power systems secure against cyberattacks, as any lapse can cause huge loss to the economy and make systems vulnerable to non-state actors. In the said direction, the recently released government guidelines for cybersecurity in power sector is a welcome move.
While undergoing digital transformation, it is important that the government and power companies undertake a comprehensive risk assessment, draw out detailed designs of security policy and processes, and choose technologies that meet global security standards and implement a robust risk mitigation plan, and ensure effective management of security programs, including information and communication asset lifecycles.
India is playing a leadership role in the global sustainability arena due to its commitment, action, and delivery on SDGs. By focusing on an “All Electric” infrastructure with a greater share of non-renewable energy sources, India will further stamp its authority on the International sustainability map. However, going forward, to really arrive on the world map, we have to accelerate the shift to Electricity 4.0, digitalise our power utilities, and very importantly, upskill our workforce to manage the new systems. Indian power assets have surely progressed on the right path. It just needs accelerated digital momentum.
https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/amp/news/renewable/opinion-powering-india-time-to-be-renewable-electric-and-digital/88733116
