Publications : Opinion & Commentary
Topic
Do Electricity Distribution Franchisees Work? It’s High Time for a...
As the energy transition unfolds, the role of the discom is transforming.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.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.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.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.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.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.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 metrics100% 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 ...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 ...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 ...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 ...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 ...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, ...