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Decentralised Renewable Energy in the Indian Context
must be at a similar geographical scale. In this regard, the district is one under the Ministry of Energy, on a par with the Departments of Coal
of the appropriate planning levels. Planned interventions to reduce and Power. After a decade, in 1992 the Department was upgraded to
energy scarcity can take various forms, such as: energy conservation the status of a Ministry, named the Ministry of Non-conventional
through promotion and use of energy-efficient stoves for cooking and Energy Sources (MNES), to increase the deployment of RE technologies.
water heating, compact fluorescent bulbs in place of incandescent Today India is in the unique position of having this dedicated ministry.
bulbs, efficient pumps and motors, etc.; supply expansions through The ministry is the nodal agency of the Government of India for all
energy plantations; and alternative renewable sources of energy such as matters concerning the promotion of non-conventional/renewable
micro/mini/small hydro-power plants and wind-, solar- and biomass- energy. The span of its activities covers policy-making, planning,
based systems. promotion and co-ordination of various demonstration and commercial
programmes, and implementing fiscal and financial incentives, creation
Decentralised Energy Planning of industrial capacity, promotion of R&D and technology, intellectual
DEP involves scaling down energy planning to sub-national or property protection, human resource development and international
regional scales. Sub-national areas can be political subdivisions such relations. The ministry also deals with emerging areas, such as fuel cells,
as administrative regions, provinces or districts, blocks and villages. electric vehicles, ocean energy and hydrogen energy. All multilateral
The areas can also be based on distinct geographical features such as and bilateral government-to-government linkages related to
renewables are enacted through this Ministry. The restructured MNES
now has three main divisions:
For developing countries such
as India, there are widely
Rural Energy Division: Group I deals with biogas, improved
differing estimates of the
cooking stoves, biomass (production and utilisation), Urjagram
(energy village project) and the Integrated Rural Energy
capital investment requirements Programme (IREP). Group II deals with photovoltaic lighting,
of the energy sector.
water pumping, solar thermal applications (rural) and human and
animal energy.
Urban and Industrial Energy Division: looks after domestic energy
islands, valleys, plains or coastal areas, or by agro-ecological zones and process heating, passive architecture, urban/municipal
such as arid areas, savannahs, tropical forests or wetlands. This wastes, industrial waste and energy conservation.
approach allows analysis of the inter-linkages between energy, Power Division: deals with the energy, small hydro, bioenergy,
physical and biological resources, and the local economic and socio- co-generation and solar energy (only grid-connected solar
cultural structures in rural areas. DEP for rural areas should consider applications). In the new scheme, much greater reliance is placed
all types of energy supply option: renewables, fossil fuel and on developing market linkages and promoting commercialisation
electricity supplied from the national grid. DEP could lead to the by involving the private sector rather than public investment, and
formulation of national policies and programmes that reflect local providing more fiscal and tax incentives.
needs. It is also a very useful approach for environmental analysis, as
it provides for detailed analysis of the links between wood energy use The Government of India is keen to increase the share of RE in India’s
and wood production, a prime environmental concern in many installed power generation capacity by an additional 10%, or
regions. Furthermore, it can also allow appropriate analysis of 12,000MW, by 2012. In effect, around one-tenth of the 12,000MW
linkages with agricultural development in both commercial and expansion in energy generation capacity planned for India by the
subsistence farming systems, which are both consumers and Central Electricity Authority (CEA) for the 11th Five-year Plan
producers of wood for fuel use.
Energy planning at the village level is the lowest level of the application
The Government of India is
of the DEP principle. In most parts of India, a village constitutes a
keen to increase the share of
cluster of households with a distinct geographical boundary consisting
renewable energy in India’s
of settlement, agricultural land, water bodies and any other land
category. Each village has a distinct rural identity, and each is generally installed power generation
separated from its neighbours by agricultural or forest land.
capacity by an additional 10%,
Furthermore, village-level plans must be prepared within the limits set
by a panchayat- (local administrative unit), block- or district-level plan, or 12,000MW, by 2012.
as the sum total of various village plans must correspond to these
higher-level plans. A panchayat is the lowest administrative unit
consisting of a cluster of villages and an elected body to administer (2007–2012) is expected to come from the RE sector. Within the
developmental activities. A block (or taluka) consists of a cluster of long-term vision, policy seeks to set out the major application areas
panchayats and a district consists of a cluster of blocks. and near-term targets for the period up to the end of the 11th Five-
year Plan (2012). The major application areas are ensuring minimum
Decentralised Energy – An Indian Perspective rural energy needs, decentralised energy supply for the agriculture,
To provide focused attention to renewable energy (RE), a separate industry, commercial and household sectors in rural and urban areas
Department of Non-conventional Energy Sources was created in 1982 and grid-quality power generation and supply.
10
Furthermore, the
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