Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, has launched the India Energy Security Scenarios (IESS) 2047 Version 2.0 and unveiled the IESS website along with the documents at a conference organized by FICCI in partnership with NITI Aayog.
Dr. Panagariya said that IESS would become a very useful tool for framing the National Energy Policy.
IESS would enable decision makers to take a detailed view of India's emerging energy scenario, and help in effectively deciding the right mix of appropriate technology interventions and measures towards maximizing indigenous fuel supplies towards meeting the country's energy challenges.
Alluding to the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference, Paris COP 21, Dr. Panagariya said that IESS would also provide critical inputs to researchers and think tanks to formulate India's Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), which have to be submitted soon.
On the occasion Dr. Panagariya felicitated the leads from partner institutions and IESS Team.
Dr. Alexander Evans, Britain's Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi, said that IESS website is user-friendly and reflects innovation and fresh thinking.
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He said the number of assumptions available with respect to demand and supply of energy and energy guzzling sectors, would facilitate the Indian government, industry and stakeholders to formulate a holistic energy policy and an appropriate energy mix for the future.
In his presentation on IESS, Mr. Anil Kumar Jain, Adviser (Energy), NITI Aayog, said that detailed examination of the tool would reveal how changes in choices of energy demand and supply, yielding different levels of energy import can help a planner to decide the sector(s) in which interventions can be more effective to meet the desired policy objectives. He added that a new feature has been added in Version 2.0 which is cost information and captures the difference in cost of the chosen pathway vis-a-vis the default pathway.
Dr. V K Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, said that the county was dealing with the issues of depleting resources and growing energy demand. Also, India was looking forward to becoming a developed nation, which meant that energy demand would increase, making it imperative to increase the share of clean energy and use of carbon efficient fuel for sustainable growth. Here, IESS would become an effective tool for understanding implications of the choices made.
Dr. Bibek Debroy, Member, NITI Aayog, said that IESS would soon be available as a mobile app. IESS would allow sensitivity analysis with its contingent of future assumptions. The tool provides hundreds of scenarios with different combinations of levels/efficiencies of energy demand and supply sectors, enabling to define the future energy consumption.
Mr. Y.K. Modi, Past President, FICCI and Executive Chairman & Managing Director, Great Eastern Energy Corporation Limited, said that IESS 2047 aims at providing a clearer picture of the emerging energy demand scenarios in India. In comparison to its first version, the new version includes updated data sets, new technologies, additional sectors gaining importance and also additional implications like costs of energy choices to the economy.
Mr. Sashi K. Mukundan, Regional President and Head of Country, India, BP Group, said that the twin challenges in the energy sector are rising dependency on imports and increase in greenhouse gases owing to India's move towards becoming a developed nation. Hence, it becomes imperative to look for right energy mix and IESS would allow the government, industry to think tanks to identify alternate policy options and also quantify the outcome of those policies for sustainable and clean growth.