ACHIEVING UNIVERSAL ENERGY ACCESS IN INDIA: CHALLENGES AND THE WAY FORWARD
P C Maithani & Deepak Gupta
Sage; Rs 900;
296 pages
The energy security debate in India is mostly centred on the county's import dependence on crude oil and other fuel, including, now, even coal, and on securing fuel sources by buying assets abroad and promoting investment in domestic production. This debate tends to overlook the challenge of providing affordable energy access to all, a topic that P C Maithani and Deepak Gupta effectively tackle in this book.
The authors' experience in dealing with policy-making for renewable energy in the ministry of new and renewable energy is amply reflected in the book, which goes beyond the realm of green energy to tackle the issue of rural electrification through conventional generation as well. In the process, they highlight how misplaced definitions and targets under various government programmes have added to the problems.
Maithani and Gupta rightly point out that energy access includes both electricity and cooking fuel. Globally, 1.4 billion people, over 20 per cent of the world's population, do not have electricity to light their homes or conduct business while around 2.9 billion, almost 40 per cent of the population, rely entirely or to a large degree on traditional biomass for cooking and heating. Quoting International Energy Agency estimates, they point out that achieving universal energy access by 2030 would increase global electricity generation by 2.5 per cent which will result in marginal increases in fossil fuel demand by 0.8 per cent and CO2 emissions by 0.7 per cent.
After a brief introduction and a glimpse at the global picture, the book examines the current status of the Indian electricity sector and why it is difficult for the distribution companies to supply power to rural areas and even small towns. The authors point out the expectation of providing rural electrification through a centralised grid to most of the current deficit areas is unlikely to be realised because of the chronic poor health of distribution companies. "Even adding more and more renewables to the grid will not be able to solve this problem satisfactorily, because of problems in supply in evening peak hours and cost of supply issues," they write.
The authors extensively describe the policy landscape on rural electrification especially from 1974 onwards when the definition of rural electrification changed several times. Initially, a village was deemed electrified if electricity was used within its revenue area for any purpose. The definition was changed in October 1997 to focus on household electrification but, then, in April 2004, it was decided that a village would be declared electrified if basic infrastructure such as distribution transformer and lines were provided in the habited areas, electricity was provided in public places and at least 10 per cent of the households are electrified along with a certificate from the Panchayat saying the village is electrified.
The authors rightly point out that the real problem with this definition concerns actual supply and the lack of demand-based approach and they come up with an alternative definition that goes beyond the provision of infrastructure to actual provision of services. The definition uses four yardsticks, including a minimum 12-hour supply and billing and collection from more than 80 per cent of the connections. Given that most electrification programmes have seen electric connections but scant power supply and that distribution companies' theft and unbilled revenue losses are high, the definition is not just appropriate but exhaustive. It is, however, unclear whether the government will be able to meet its rural electrification targets if it were to adopt Maithani and Gupta's definition because, under it, as the authors admit, "the number of villages deemed electrified may drop substantially".
Chapter five is devoted to renewable energy options for making electricity accessible. Each of the programmes and forms of renewable energy are critically discussed from an application point of view. Though renewable energy technologies have always been considered a secondary option, or an interim solution, the book makes a case for deploying them through a viable business model for decentralised power generation.
Besides discussing the challenges to universal access to electricity through solutions like comprehensive mapping and bank-financed programmes, the authors have looked at energy in a holistic manner. This is also the first exercise to consider electricity and cooking energy together for universal access. Common to both forms of energy is the lack of access for a large section of rural population and the problems associated with subsidies that preclude the emergence of viable business options.
The authors have devoted just one paragraph to the cash transfer of the cooking gas subsidy that the government introduced but they have examined the critical implication of such transfers on access. They raise the important issue that shifting to more expensive clean fuels in rural areas may not be an optimum solution. "Modelling of the NSS data, consistent with international evidence, indicated that rural households conversely may use more wood if a modest amount of cash is given to them," the authors point out. In its effort to prevent the diversion of subsidy, the entire government effort seems to have skipped this point.
Maithani and Gupta rightly conclude that poor affordability and erratic supply have limited the ability to use energy resources and, therefore, a decentralised approach, especially for renewable energy, could be the best policy solution. From more than just academic modelling and conclusions, the authors have successfully presented not just a detailed critique of government programmes but possible solutions outside the current paradigms.
