Sustainable Source of Renewable Energy through Partnership in India

Amrit Mohanty

Introduction

The sustainable development is realized when there is strong commitment on global partnership and cooperation. In between 2010 to 2014 the official development assistance was increased by 66 percent. Humanitarian crises, manmade disasters and natural disasters created a demand in financial resource and aid. Many countries also inter dependent in official developments to encourage growth and trade.

The present world is more interconnected and improved access to the technology and knowledge is an important way to share ideas and foster innovation. Coordinating policies helps developing countries to manage their debts as well it is also helping to promote investment which is vital to achieve sustainable growth.

The aim of goal number 17 is to promote international trade and also helping countries to increase their exports. To strengthen the global solidarity is another goal that makes up the 2030 agenda for sustainable developments.

Agenda In India

During the work towards revitalizing the global partnership for achieving sustainable development goals, India confirms the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. Though there is a significant effort in resource mobilization India is unlikely to gather sufficient revenues for achieving the SDGS. The developed countries should provide financial assistance to the developing countries especially for global public goods such as climate change mitigation and control of pandemics so that they can achieve the SDGs. India is highlighting the need for international cooperation for curbing illicit financial flows and its establishing robust systems made by for monitoring the commitments made by donor countries. To optimize the domestic resource mobilization a tax reform agenda also being prepared. Here the domestic mobilizations are direct tax reforms as well as goods and services tax (GST), a uniform and simplified form of indirect taxation.

Innovative tax like the Swachh Bharat Cess has also been imposed to mobilize the resources for clean India mission. Successful Implementation of budget responsibility legislation is also ensuring that there is a predictable and sustainable budgeting as well as long term debt sustainability. Policy reforms has boosted the FDI flows in last three fiscal years to USD 156 billion and in the last it showed a record breaking figure of USD 56 billion.

Due to the design and implementation by sub national governments the fiscal devolution to states is also increased from 32% to 42%. Some Initiatives are also taken for enhancing development cooperation with neighboring and other countries and subcontinents. The south Asia satellite was launched in May 2017 for sharing data with neighboring countries. Efforts are underway at national level for finalizing the indicators and in turn will enable monitoring the progress made in SDGs. Also there is an additional effort on assessing and improving the availability of data as well as putting the transparent monitoring system in place. To look after and coordinate the goals and targets, the government is also setting up high level committee headed by the chief statistician which oversees the monitoring framework for SDGs at the national level. Rather than national effort the global technical support is also important in certain areas including developing methodologies for data collection as well as monitoring and evaluation.

Financing of sustainable sources of energy is also being promoted to provide energy for all by 2022 through a massive 150GW increase in energy from renewable sources and this is one of the main agenda of the present government. To achieve that government has initiated international solar alliance program.

Government Initiatives on Renewable Energy

The ministry of renewable energy (MNRE) has taken several steps to fulfill the dream of clean energy for the ‘New India’. The largest renewable energy capacity expansion program was taken up by India. The government is also aiming to increase the amount of clean energy through huge production in renewable. The scarcities which force India to become needy for renewable energies are Electricity Shortage. Other core drivers are energy security, energy access and climate change etc.

Addition of 27.07GW of renewable energy has also been recorded in last three and half years which includes 12.87 GW from solar power, 0.59GW from small Hydro power, 11.70 GW from wind power, and 0.79GW from Bio power etc. By gaining the confidence in growth rate in clean energy sector the government of India in its submission to the United Nations frame work convention on climate change has stated that India will achieve 40% cumulative electric power capacity from non fossil based energy resources by 2030 with the transfer of technology and also with the low cost international finance from Green Climate Fund. Around 16611.73 MW including 863.92 MW from solar roof top projects has also been installed across the country.

In order to promote and enhance the adaptability of renewable energy, the government is playing a major role by offering various incentives such as generation based incentives (GBI), Capital and interest subsidies, concessional finance, viability gap funding, concessional finance, fiscal incentives etc. The national solar mission is also aiming to promote the development and use of solar energy for power generation and other uses, with a clear objective of making solar energy to compete with fossil-based energy option. The main objective of National Solar Mission is to promote the development and use of solar energy for power generation in the country for long term purpose. This long term purpose would be achieved through long term policy, large scale deployment, rigorous R&D and domestic production of critical raw materials, components etc. Renewable energy is also becoming increasingly cost competitive as compared to fossil fuel based generation.

In order to achieve the renewable energy target of 175GW by the end of year 2022, the major program and schemes are initiated and that on implementation of solar park, solar roof top, solar defense scheme, and solar scheme for CPUs, solar TV power plant on canal bank, canal tops, solar pump, solar rooftop etc has been initiated in last two years.

Targets

The Government of India had made a target of 175 GW renewable capacities by the end of 2022. This capacity includes 60GW from wind power, 100GW from solar power, 5 GW from small hydro power and 10GW from biomass power.

For 2017–18 a target of 14550 MW grid renewable power which includes 4000 MW of wind power, 10000MW of solar power, 200 MW of hydro power ,340 MW of bio power etc.

Sector wise Achievement

1. Latest wind power capacity addition of 5502.39 MW and it exceeds the target by 38%.
2. In the year 2017–18 467.11MW has been added.
3. In terms of global wind power India placed itself in 4th position globally.
4. Solar power capacity addition of 5525.98MW in the year 2017–18.
5. Total 4323.1 MW capacity including 207.92MW solar roof top capacity has been added.
6. 1.42 lakh solar pumps have been installed.
7. To leverage solar project across the country, 23656MW have been tendered and 19,340MW has been issued.
8. A capacity addition of 0.59GW has also been added under grid connected renewable power.
9. Biomass power reached to 8181.70 MW.
10. During 2017–18, 0.15 lakhs biogas plant installation has been achieved.

USAID/India Programs

USA and India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy-Deployment (PACE-D): In the U.S and India bilateral program, USAID is giving its full support to the Ministries of Power and New and renewable Energy to boost and energize the growth of clean energy in India. PACE-D program is successfully helping the government of India in the deployment of energy efficient technologies. Also the PACE-D program is helpful in decentralize renewable energy systems such as distributed solar power by strengthening policy and regulatory institutions. To strengthen policy there is an increasing access to finance and enhancing institutional and human capacity.

The prominent efforts in different sectors are

Renewable Energy — USAID has a partnership with policymakers, energy utilities, and customers with public and private sectors, financial institutions, civil society organizations to enable fast and a cost effective deployment of fast and cost effective deployment of renewable energy systems in the country. All of these entities are accomplished by designing, developing and implementing program, policies and regulations for renewable energy. In Karnataka as well as in Maharashtra PACE-D has helped in its extreme solar roof top policy and also it is also helping BESCOM one of the largest electricity utilities in installation of solar rooftops. Till now USAID has helped BESCOM in installing 14.9MW of solar rooftop systems across 525 commercial and residential buildings. USAID also supports the Government of India’s National Institute of Solar Energy for establishing a “Solar Energy Training Network” for building the workforce of skilled solar energy professionals.

Greening the Grid: USAID and India’s Ministry of Power are rolling out major initiatives to manage the large scale integration of renewable energy into its power grid at an acceptable cost. This USAID program has a clear attention on 1) Rigorous analytical modeling of reforms to integrate 175 gig watts of renewable energy by 2022 2) Supporting six grid-integration pilots to tests the building blocks for improved integration of renewable energy in India’s power grid. 3) It also facilitates the exchange between US and Indian regulators, grid operators and utilities to strengthen the enabling environment.

Energy Efficiency: USAID also provides its extensive support to India’s Ministry of power and Bureau of energy efficiency with some initiatives like National Smart Grid Mission to implement and monitor the Government of India’s smart grid pilots and it also updating the 2007 Energy conservation billing code (ECBC) to support India’s transition to a net zero energy building future. PACE-D program has also given its full support in creating a successful knowledge portal to promote net-zero buildings in India. USAID is also supporting Rajasthan and Haryana in implementing the updated ECBC.

Clean Energy Finance: USAID is implementing its market-based mechanisms to increase the use of renewable energy and it also gave substantial help to India to overcome barriers to rural energy access and also decentralized the process of renewable energy generation through microfinance. PACE-D program is also making partnership with (1) Tata Cleantech Capital limited to plot the corporate Energy Audit Program (2) The Indian infrastructure finance company to pilot an Infrastructure Fund 3) Chhattisgarh state renewable energy development agency is also preparing to plot an off-grid CSR Fund. This clean energy finance program was also signed several memorandums with seven micro finance institutions to start a loan programs and solar rooftop project evaluation tool for financial institutions.

Off-Grid Energy Access: Most of the India lives in rural area and around 45 percent of Indian households are facing lack access to electricity and they mostly rely on kerosene for lightning. USAID is also trying his best to tackle these issues of sustainable energy by supporting off-grid and decentralized renewable energy technologies.

Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN): USAID is also making partnership with several organization like ICCO Cooperation, GIZ and Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation to set up CLEAN as a coalition of 10 Indian and international non-profits organizations to enable increased uptake of off-grid energy solutions by reducing financial and operational barriers.

Sustainable, Clean, Access, Livelihoods, Energy (SCALE): USAID also gave its extensive support to SELCO Foundation’s to address the diverse needs of India’s poor through sustainable energy service solutions. The Program SCALE is also supporting 13 entrepreneurs for starting clean energy enterprises. This SCALE program is also committed and influenced to change the National Solar Mission Initiative to further support off-grid projects and other livelihood-related products.

wPOWER: Joint initiatives of the U.S. Department of State and USAID, the partnership with women’s entrepreneurship in clean energy (wPOWER) that trains women entrepreneurs in business skills, Clean energy technologies and the products that may be used in the home. Women are then selling their products, increasing their incomes and also introducing clean energy into their communities. wPOWER has also trained more than thousand rural women and in turn these women helped one million Indians to adopt clean energy products.

World Bank Support for Renewable Energy

The World Bank is also committed to support India’s solar energy project and motion. The World Bank is also providing more than $1 billion to support to India’s solar plans that aims to put solar panels on rooftops across the country. 100MW of energy has already been financed through this program. The World Bank also signed an agreement with International Solar Alliance (ISA), consisting of 121 countries led by India which has a motive to collaborate increasing solar energy use around the world and to mobilize $1 Trillion in investment by 2030.

India is contributing a lot to save the planet from the effect of climate change. Being the intention to generate affordable electricity by using solar power to use fossil fuel the country also walked away from plans to install nearly 4GW of coal-fired power plants.

International Solar Alliance

Now India is taking a measure role in International Renewable Community and it is the leading country along with France which helps the formation of International Solar Alliance (ISA), ISA is an international body of 121 countries lying between Tropic of Cancer and tropic of Capricorn. Around 47 countries have signed the framework agreement and 18 countries have supported within one year of opening of framework for signatures. ISA become a legal entity on 06.12.2017 with its headquarters in India.

Apart from being a founder member India is the major contributor to the achievement of sustainable targets. The International Solar Alliance is the first international body that will have a secretariat in India. India will have a target to produce 100GW of solar energy by 2022 and that would account for one tenth of the ISA’s goal. Apart from that the initiatives like distribution of 28 Cr electric bulbs has saved around $2 billion and 4GW of electricity.

Other International Support

India is also seeking cooperation from other countries on technical as well as financial side to promote the generation of power from renewable energy sources. On technical aspect National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) is collaborating with other premium institutions of USA, Germany and Japan in the fields of performance evaluation, long term operational reliability and indoor performance testing using different module. National Institute of Wind Energy has made collaboration with some specialized institutions of Denmark, Spain, USA and Germany on wind forecasting, offshore wind, and aero-structural design, training and testing inter-laboratory comparison etc. Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) is also having some sort of line of credits from various Bilateral/Multilateral institutions for further viable renewable energy projects in the country.

MoU that has happened between India and France was established for a cooperative institutional relationship to promote and enhance bilateral cooperation on new and renewable energy issues on the basis of mutual benefit, equality and reciprocity. Another MoU on Renewable energy Cooperation was also signed between India and Seychelles to strengthen and promote renewable energy cooperation between the two countries on the basis of mutual benefit and equality. This MoU also strengthen the bilateral cooperation between two countries in the field of renewable energy. USA and India also sign a MoU to establish a PACE setter fund of $4 Million for innovation in clean energy.

ICT Contribution in Energy

Basically by two ways ICT helps the green energy (a) Firstly by using low-power renewable energy solutions (b) Secondly by managing cities through applications like smart buildings, intelligent transport systems, waste management and new efficiencies in energy consumption not only for urban inhabitants but also for entire sustainability of the planet. For economic growth and for decent work ICT skills are also important.

Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) plays a measure role in enabling and facilitating unprecedented and improved monitoring, control and management in both developed and developing countries.

For the access of universal energy, ICT has transformed business model that are poised to provide energy access to millions of people. ICT also facilitates smart meters that can be pay-as-you-go which in turn reducing operational costs and enables flexible payment option for poor.

ICT also helpful to enable the use of mobile payment systems and many people get benefited by this. These also allow the use of data analytics as well as combination of demand, supply, and storage management to drive down the cost of assessment, maintenance as well as operations.

ICT enabling capabilities are also vital to manage the volatile and distributed nature of renewable energy resources for renewable energy growth. Basically the renewable energy sources are intermittent, wind speed; solar irradiation and water flow are variable. Market penetration of renewable would neither be possible nor practicible without ICT enabled real time measurement control and management. Deeper penetrations of renewable are cost effective if it combined with demand side management efforts. ICT’s role is also been there in the modernization of electricity grids across world. ICT is helping in increase of grid efficiency, cost effectiveness and the integration of incoming wave of renewable energy.

ICT also plays a measure role in energy conservation and efficiency through sensing and control. By the use of ICT a higher resource utilization is also possible through shared systems and it increased the efficiency driven through smarter appliances, infrastructure and manufacturing. Information systems also enable behavioral changes and it helps to reduce emissions by scheduling loads based on supply. The increase interaction between people and devices and also among devices known as internet of Things and this is the new paradigm of energy efficiency.

Some ICT based innovations are

Provides platforms for provision of energy as a service like charging for pumped water, lighting, battery charging or efficiency service.

The billing processes are also dematerialized and also metering of energy services to the operator.

Create a financing model for energy access with metering and with advanced demand and supply.

By using ICT there is a significant increase in flexibility of existing electric grids with improved power flows.

There is an enhanced control of distributed generation systems such as renewable energy resources.

Through ICT raising of consumer awareness of energy efficiency and sustainable energy consumption.

Through ICT decision making processes are also being accelerated for energy infrastructure development.

By the use of ICT there is a transparency in energy subsidy distribution and that is a part of growing e-government initiatives.

By the use of ICT a communication network will also be provided to increase electricity supply quality and system resiliency.

There is an automation and unprecedented connectivity in transportation systems through ICT.

There is a gathering data of energy indicators to assess progress and also to identify the improvement needs.

ICT Contribution towards Goal 17

ICT is capable of strengthening the process of implementation by fostering coordination and cooperation also promoting technology transfer and capacity building, strengthening multi stakeholder partnerships and enabling data monitoring and accountability.

Recommendation

The government of India should work alongside with state government to pilot certain innovative renewable energy technologies.

There should be last mile connectivity for remote communities through innovative and grid-complementing DRE solutions like home energy systems and renewable energy mini-grads.

There must be a huge investment required in solar energy and efficient storage.

In order to raise fund a special type of bond such as green infrastructure bond need to be created. This bond would also helpful to provide debt financing for renewable energy sources.

In order to enhance the manufacturing process the government should introduce certain subsidies and also the government should reduce the GST for manufacturing products.

National clean energy fund and the funds raised by IREDA also need to be leveraged.

Low cost funding would definitely be helpful in scaling up of the new renewable.

There should be a minimum alternative tax (MAT) need to collected for renewable till 2022.

In case of offshore wind, India also needs to work out with a single window system for clearance so that the project implementation rate would get faster pace.

In case of land and Grid Infrastructure the Indian government should work with state governments to identify the lands for setting up of renewable projects.

The wind export incentives also need to be increased so that there should be massive growth in exports of wind energy.