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Interview | Powering Up: Assessing Utility Preparedness to Meet the Summer...
There is relatively little that can be done in the short run – we cannot build new infrastructure instantly – but our real objective must be to avoid any crisis in the future: Rahul Tongia.PM Surya Ghar Scheme: Balance Consumer Equity with Discom Stability
Successful implementation of PM Surya Ghar Scheme hinges on ensuring its viability across diverse consumers and discoms through strategic tariff setting, support mechanism, and policy reforms.Do Electricity Distribution Franchisees Work? It’s High Time for a...
As the energy transition unfolds, the role of the discom is transforming.Rethinking Franchisee Efficacy in India’s Power Sector: A Critique...
Considering experiences across various states, the paper advises caution in prescribing the IBDF model as a “standard” policy solution for loss reduction.A Square Peg in a Round Hole
The regulation of state-owned discoms can create challenges. Upon getting conflicting directives from the government and the regulator, such entities prioritise the former’s orders.Structural Reforms to Improve Regulation of Indian Electricity...
Daljit Singh's working paper examines the regulatory framework of the Indian power sector, often criticised for contributing to the financial strain of electricity distribution companies.On India’s Electricity Consumption
Laveesh Bhandari and Aasheerwad Dwivedi study growth in electricity consumption, the key factors affecting it, and its link with economic activity.Viability of Jharkhand’s Electricity Distribution: Distorted by...
Nikhil Tyagi and Rahul Tongia's paper attempts to examine the structure and legacy of electricity distribution in the state with a lens to examine how that impacts the future viability of the distribution companies (DisComs)Power Sector Needs a Regulatory Overhaul
Insufficient regulated tariffs are the dominant reasons for discom cash shortfalls. Fixing this is necessary and urgent says Rahul Tongia, Rajasekhar Devaguptapu and Nikhil Tyagi.Discom Gaps Need Urgent Systemic Fixes
Non-performance by discoms only explains a minority fraction of cumulative financial gaps of over ₹10L-crore — the real issues are more deep-rooted.Getting India’s Electricity Prices “Right”: It’s More...
In this paper, Nikhil Tyagi and Rahul Tongia examine the equilibrium of retail pricing, beginning with the question whether prices are in compliance with the Electricity Act 2003 enshrined National Tariff Policy, which states that cross-subsidies should be limited to ±20% of costs.Breaking Down the Gap in DisCom Finances: Explaining the Causes of Missing...
Rajasekhar Deveguptapu and Rahul Tongia comprehensively analyse DisCom finances using a long time series that aims to examine and answer pertinent questions on finances and performance.Why Electricity Subsidies Need an Urgent Rethink
Who is deserving of a subsidy is difficult to answer, for this is a policy choice. However, we can benchmark policies by examining who gets how much subsidy.Subnational Implications from Climate and Air Pollution Policies in...
This analysis provides valuable guidance about the development of the power sector and the costs associated with different development pathways.Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022: Three Features that Will be Very...
The many challenges facing electricity distribution certainly need attention. But focusing on multiple discoms in an area, particularly when an alternative for providing choice exists, may distract from more fundamental issues. And it could create more problems.For Energy, it’s not RE vs Coal – Adopt a Portfolio Approach
India is undergoing an energy transition, but it must not write off coal. The most cost-effective way to balance the grid in 2030 will be to keep both thermal power and renewables in the basket of options.Follow-up Thoughts on India’s Grid 2030: A Glass Half Cloudy
India should aggressively go down the RE path, but not focus on just RE. Energy efficiency, smart systems, energy security, local manufacturing, livelihoods, fiscal balances, etc. are all very important.Balancing India’s 2030 Electricity Grid Needs Management of Time...
Rahul Tongia's study presents results from the first-of-a-kind model to handle high uncertainty, which uses parametric analysis instead of stochastic analysis for grid balancing based on economic despatch through 2030, covering 30-min resolution granularity at a national level.Current and Future Estimates of Marginal Emission Factors for Indian Power...
India’s power generation is a large source of greenhouse gas emissions. The authors quantify current and future marginal emissions factors for power generation in India across seasons, times-of-day, and states.A Granular Comparison of International Electricity Prices and Implications...
This paper highlights some of the specificities of other countries and their electricity prices in order to better direct regulatory attention to measures that could be relevant for India, and to gauge where India’s position is when it comes to global electricity prices.Policy Revamps that Will Help Scale Storage Technologies
The key need for improving storage is innovation, which is not just a technical issue but extends to business models and regulatory frameworks. While there is a need to scale up production, we should also revamp how we integrate and plan for storage, writes Rahul Tongia.जलवायु बिगड़ने के साथ भारत का...
भारत में जलवायु परिवर्तन के कारण हो रही घटनाओं को अब ‘अप्रत्याशित’ नहीं कहा जा सकता है इसलिए सरकार को उनके लिए वैकल्पिक तरीकों के साथ तैयार होना पड़ेगा.Power Sector must Brace for Trouble as Climate Worsens
India can no longer label extreme climate events as ‘unforeseeable’. The Union govt must prepare for them with alternate approaches.Reforming Electricity Distribution in India: Understanding Delicensing and...
The changes being proposed by the government for delicensing distribution and allowing multiple discoms in the same geographical area are unlikely to solve the problems in the power sector, particularly regarding the poor financial health of discoms.India Needs a Coordinated Approach for Decarbonisation of Economy
Long-term planning process must be changed and an autonomous, credible agency must provide independent advice, monitor progress.Long-Term Goal-Setting and Planning for Decarbonising the Indian Power...
It is important that the approach used in India for setting and implementation of targets pays attention to, not only environmental impacts, but also the affordability of electricity, and reliability of the power system.Balancing India’s electricity grid in 2030: A detailed, granular...
India has some of the most aggressive RE targets in the world. How can we offer solutions to balance the electricity grid and osupply and demand?New electricity consumer rules: Reading the impact on ‘rooftop solar’...
The older regime benefited just a handful. The new rules should spur a conversation on equitable and sustainable pricing frameworksNeed for caution in delicensing distribution
It would be better to focus on developing effective wholesale electricity markets, which, in turn, require well-functioning fuel markets.New electricity consumer rules: Reading the impact on ‘rooftop solar’...
The older regime benefited just a handful. The new rules should spur a conversation on equitable and sustainable pricing frameworksEnhancing competition in India’s power sector
Fixing Discoms is a pressing need, but it’s worth investing time in figuring out the details, including expected winners and losers, and possibilities for gaming.Coal power plants need an integrated approach
The three issues — retirement, pollution control, and making plants flexible — are inter-related. They need to be addressed in an integrated fashion by distribution companies.India’s DisCom stress is more than the sum of its past
There must be an overhaul of the regulation of electricity firms and their deliverables using common sense metricsReconciling DisCom ‘stimulus’ and dues: We must look beyond the tip of...
DisComs needs support in the coming months, exacerbated by COVID-19, which has hurt revenues more than the reduction in demand.Comments and analysis of Draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020
Few would dispute that change is required in the legislative and regulatory framework of the power sector in India.Impact of temperature on electricity demand: Evidence from Delhi and...
This study measures the change in electricity demand in response to weather shocks at the household level in Delhi, and at various aggregate levels in India.DisComs post-COVID-19: Untangling the historical challenges, needs, and...
COVID has unleashed a relatively unique global pandemic with economic, human, and institutional upheavals that haven’t been seen in generations. Economies are in a tailspin, and employment has been one of the biggest casualties beyond direct human health. The collapse of both liquidity and economic activity hits DisComs harder than many other ...Impact of temperature on electricity demand: Evidence from Delhi and...
Impact of temperature on electricity demand: Evidence from Delhi and Indian statesIndia’s power distribution sector: An assesment of financial and...
The Indian power sector value chain can be broadly segmented into generation, transmission, and distribution sectors. At an all-India level, the total installed generation capacity was 3,56,100.19 MW as on March 31, 2019 (provisional). The peak load demand of 1,75,528 MW during FY 2018-19 was largely met, considering that the peak load supply shortfall ...Insights from the Brookings India Electricity and Carbon Tracker
Brookings India launched the Electricity and Carbon Tracker, a first-of-its-kind near real-time tracker of electricity generation by type of source as well as electricity carbon emissions at an all-India level. With high resolution data, we can now do a Time of Day (ToD) level analysis of India’s power generation system. The tracker ...Understanding India’s Power Capacity: Surplus or not, and for how...
Abstract For the first time, India has sufficient or even surplus electricity generation capacity. Headline numbers show India’s gross installed electricity capacity is over 350 GW, but the maximum load met has been approximately 180 GW. Does this mean we have sufficient buffer for years to come? A significant fraction of this ...The future of Indian electricity supply: Scenarios of coal use by 2030
India is expected to be among the top growth markets in the world for electricity in the coming decade. At the same time, electricity supply mixes are changing worldwide, in large part due to the rise of renewable energy (RE). Apart from RE, the elements of the Indian electricity sector transition today ...India 2024: A productive India
India’s policy default in the energy sector has been a focus on infrastructure addition with the goal of sufficiency. This made sense based on the deficits it was facing after Independence, especially in the electricity sector. Reliable and assured energy is also a prerequisite for robust industrial and manufacturing growth. But now, ...100% electrification: Assessing ground reality
The past five years have seen a significant flux in India’s electricity sector. A number of policies have been adopted that have fundamentally transformed the sector. On the upstream side, renewable energy is not a pipe-dream with the sector seeing the fastest growth amongst all other competing energy sources, auction-based processes have ...Some steps towards escalating the ambition on Universal Electricity Access
Whether full household electrification is achieved by March 2019 or later, India’s efforts at electrifying its rural population since the turn of the millennium have received universal recognition. However, several observers have noted that the presence of requisite infrastructure in a village to officially deem it ‘electrified’, or even wire to households ...Amendments to the Electricity Act 2003: A summary, analysis and public...
The year 2018 has brought about a new set of draft/proposed Amendments to the Electricity Act 2003 (EA2003), which are an extension to the draft amendments introduced in Lok Sabha in 2014 but did not pass. EA2003 is the central act governing the power sector structure and policy in India, and any ...Complexities of integrating Renewable Energy into India’s grid
In 2014, India unilaterally announced plans to quadruple Renewable Energy (RE) to 175 GW by 2022, an ambitious target that required an annual growth (CAGR) of over 25 percent. Since then, growth has exploded, especially for grid-scale solar power, which is meant to be 100 of the 175 GW RE targeted. Until ...The future of Indian electricity demand: How much, by whom and under what...
Despite the thrust on transforming electricity supply, India’s per capita electricity consumption remains amongst the lowest in the world, with vast latent demand and high room for efficiency. More recently, electricity demand has witnessed unprecedented slowdown, which is likely a cyclical than a long-term phenomenon. This study aims to deep dive into ...Embarrassment of riches? The rise of RE in India and steps to manage...
Does India have ‘too much’ electricity capacity? Every electricity grid operates in a balance between supply and demand, usually with a slight surplus of capacity to meet eventualities and uncertainty too much surplus becomes expensive. Surplus has two sides: either the demand is lower than projected, or supply is higher than required ...Is future planning of electricity grid keeping India’s pace of...
A seminar and discussion at Brookings India recently focused on the impact of electrification on the electricity demand growth and also included insights from global experiences and the possible policy implications for India. Key speaker at this event was Johannes Urpelainen of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and Founding Director ...Microgrids in India: Myths, misunderstandings, and the need for proper...
India has a vibrant market for batteries and inverters and even diesel generators – but a cynic could call these responses to the failure of the grid in providing quality supply. Are microgrids similarly stepping in to fill gaps in grid-based supply? This Impact Series Paper revisits the fundamentals and drivers for ...Can the Saubhagya scheme work?
The government’s recently announced 100 per cent household electrification scheme, Saubhagya, aims to tackle the next link for electrification, where until now most efforts focused at the village or hamlet level. The good news is that most villages are now connected to the grid, and remote locations far from the grid are ...Saubhagya programme: The next bold step for electrification – necessary...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a new scheme called Saubhagya to ensure electrification of all willing households in the country in rural as well as urban areas by 2019. The focus is on last mile connectivity and poor households would be provided electricity connections free of cost. Is Modi’s new electricity-for-all-homes scheme Saubhagya ...Making a smart energy grid work for India
Newspapers are showcasing the dramatically lower costs of solar power, reportedly cheaper than coal power now, and we are told that smart grids (and smart cities) are just around the corner. While enormous strides have been made in making these solutions both available and cheaper, we have to focus on the next ...Newer Challenges for Open Access in Electricity
For the last 15 years or so, introduction of competition has been one of the main aims of reform in the electricity sector in India. One of the key measures to bring about competition is open access (OA) whereby, mainly, large consumers have access to the transmission and distribution (T&D) network to ...Delhi’s inefficient electricity subsidies
Who doesn’t like discounts or freebies, especially from the government? Subsidies aren’t inherently wrong they can help keep goods and services affordable, and encourage “good” things like education. The challenge is making them efficient and focused, so that they help the poor and deserving the most. The Delhi government offers substantial subsidies ...Delhi’s household electricity subsidies: High and inefficient
Subsidies in the power sector aren’t new or unique to Delhi. These can play a helpful role in keeping power affordable for citizens, but the downsides of poor subsidy designs range from poor signalling of true costs, leading to wastage, to over-charging some users and financial losses for the utilities. This paper ...No such thing as a perfect renewable energy contract
India’s 175 GW renewable energy (RE) targets by 2022 are ambitious, to say the least. Compared to RE targets in Europe, China, or California that require 4-5% growth in RE capacity annually, Indian targets require 25% growth. This translates to enormous capital investment (well over $100 billion), including from global investors. RE ...Save me, technology; for I have (energy) sinned
Many things demand a balance, energy being one of them. Electricity, in fact, must always be in balance as grid power cannot easily be stored. Unfortunately, in recent times the emphasis has shifted from reducing the demand of power in India through efficiency to increasing its supply. Except for limited examples such ...“Govt’s ambitious power capacity target may lead to huge...
The Economic Times on our latest IMPACT Series paper, ‘India’s Updated (2016) Renewable Energy “Guidelines”: Bold targets, but can we meet them?’. Download the paper here. The article says, “The numbers for renewable energy, coal-fired capacity and power demand don’t quite add up upon triangulation. The targeted 1,500 million tonne of coal by ...A game changer: Electricity feeder monitoring
The Government of India is proposing a bold and major scheme for monitoring, visualizing, and analyzing feeder level power supply across the nation, monitoring all the 11kV distribution feeders. In conjunction, a parallel scheme, Urja-Mitra, aims to notify consumers of outages, via SMS and online apps. Put together, these should be a ...Planning for Accelerating Smart Meter and Smart Grid Rollouts in India
The Electricity Policy has taken a bold move to kick-start Smart Meters in India. This discussion note discusses roll-out the options. Many HT consumers are already on digital metering, that too with downloading of data (even if via a handheld instrument). Making such users’ metering “smart” will be analogous to AMR (automated ...Average rural consumer ends up subsidizing power for urban residents
An article in the Scientific American quotes Brookings India Fellow Rahul Tongia’s research. Rural homes regularly experience rolling blackouts during times of peak demand as utilities move available power to commercial operations and energy-hungry cities. That means the average rural consumer ends up subsidizing power for urban residents by 240 to 510 ...Rating of Distribution Utilities in India: Linking the Financial with...
In August 2015, the Ministry of Power released the State Distribution Utilities Third Annual Integrated Ratings. This is the third instance of rating for utilities undertaken by the same agencies, thereby imparting some consistency to them. Though it is a transparent attempt to measure utility operations and financial performance, the current metrics do not go ...Making India’s Electricity Utilities Viable Enterprises: Economics,...
The Indian electricity system is struggling. Worldwide challenges of supply security, fuel choice, environmental impacts (now adding carbon and climate change), and sustainable business models are present, but the last one is where India is furthest behind. We have a muddled system with state and private participation that satisfies neither the social ...Brightening the future with the sun and wind
India received commitments for over 260,000 MW of renewable energy during RE-Invest. While this is a great supply-side achievement, there are several issues in terms of handling this, and implications for the grid, both technically and financially. The Renewable Energy (RE) Global Investor’s Meet inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February ...Electrified, but without electricity
No one would believe that simply owning a smartphone would be enough to go online and get connected one would still need a data connection for that to happen. Similarly, it is time that we added a similar level of service to define electrification, a focus area for the government. A decade ...Re-thinking Access and Electrification in India: From Wire to Service
“Electrification” has been a priority for India for many years, and there are ongoing plans and projects to improve access to many more households, followed by electricity for all in the coming years. Despite improvements in the threshold for village electrification (moving from any single point to 10% of homes plus common ...Do rural residential electricity consumers cross-subside their urban...
Santosh Harish and Rahul Tongia examine inequities in supply of household electricity in India, using minute-level data for every feeder across a major utility. Their model and results indicate disparities in load-shedding equate to a welfare transfer, from the rural areas to metropolitan areas or big cities, in the order of thousands ...No Imminent Renewables “Death Spiral” for India’s...
Rahul Tongia explains the challenges facing utility companies in India from distributed generation of renewables and a tiered pricing system in need of reform.Smart Grids in India: Separating Hype from Hope
Rahul Tongia discusses why Smart Grids in India have become a distinct possibility, instead of a science experiment, and why they can succeed now.
Time of day electricity pricing: From utilities to consumers
What is the value of saving one unit (or kilowatt-hour, kWh) of electricity? Most households would think about their bill, and then try and recall what they pay for electricity. What a large number of consumers don’t always realize is they pay a regulator-approved price that varies with their level of consumption, ...