India’s inevitable energy crisis | Daily News Byte

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India is facing the worst power crisis in history. The scariest point is that this energy crisis is not a rare occurrence but has plagued India almost every year for the past 10 years. At the moment, it is the reason that businesses across the country are experiencing shortages and even the loss of CRORES due to From power shortages and on a macro level, India’s economy itself is being affected as we speak. that energy crisis. We may think that maybe India doesn’t have enough energy resources, but the fun fact is that India has the 5th largest coal reserves in the world with 9.5% of the world’s total coal reserves right here in our own country. We have so much coal, with the existing energy requirements, these reserves can provide India with energy for 111 years, so the question is even though it is one of the largest coal reserves in the world, why is India facing an energy crisis, what are the factors that cause this. Happens every year and the energy crisis and its impact on the Indian market. If India has such huge reserves of coal, what is the reason for the electricity crisis in India?

Problem:
The overall electricity situation in the country remains subdued due to the limited availability of domestic coal. To understand the problem clearly, we need to focus on the coal supply chain in India.

The first three pillars of the energy cycle have strong financial conditions, the fourth is that Discom is the main reason for the energy crisis in India.

The first thing we need to understand is the energy value chain in India and how energy comes from coal mines to your computer, this value chain includes four important steps in electricity generation, electricity distribution and finally trading in the value chain starting from the energy producer. Mines and fossil fuels used to generate electricity, including all energy sources such as natural gas, coal or nuclear-based fuels, are sent to power plants where generators use the fuel to drive generators to produce electricity. And then to send it to the transmission and distribution system or the T&D system. This system distributes electricity to the consumer location through the transmission and distribution grid and from here on it is transported by the energy exchange or other electronic trading platforms through a wide network to regional suppliers. And then to the private public and industrial consumers now, in the case of Coal India is almost a monopoly company owned by the Indian government and this company mines coal and supplies it to power generation companies, in this case these companies are thermal power plant companies such as tata power and Adani power. The electricity transmission companies we have both government and private such as the Electricity Transmission Company of India which is responsible for interstate transmission and Adani transmission which is a private player then we have distribution companies which are the focus of our discussion today, so pay close attention. Interest in these companies is called discounting which is a short form for these distribution companies are usually government companies responsible for distributing electricity to different parts of the country and to a large extent even the trading is overseen by Discoms.

Total Technical and Commercial Losses (AT&C).
It is an inefficient infrastructure that causes energy loss during transmission and what is most disturbing is that while the global loss is only 7% in India it is close to 16.18% so one sixth of all the energy we produce is lost. which the government-owned companies suffered billions of dollars in damages.

3 The main losses are:-
» Electricity theft (illegal connection)
» Commercial losses (inefficient pilling and failure to collect outstanding amounts from industry)
» Inefficient infrastructure

Other reasons:-
» Install Smart-Meter
» Reckless cross subsidies
» Inefficient tariff setting process
» Expensive heat purchase contract
» Lack of modern technology
» Proper infrastructure to distribute power
» Improve the regulations of the electricity company and complete delivery
» It is necessary to use the general indicator of lifeline electricity supply instead of a political dole out of free electricity even for those who may not deserve such support.

Solution

• Decentralization
When power is taken away from the federal and state governments and given to local governments, it is called decentralization. The basic idea behind decentralization is that many problems and issues are best solved at the local level. People at the local level are directly involved in decision-making.

Benefits of Decentralization:-
» AT&C Loss Center
» Less load on the grid during high demand systems.
» Friendly to the environment
» Conflicts will decrease when power is shared between the center and the state and local governments.
» A large number of problems and issues can best be solved at the local level.
» People have better knowledge about local problems.
» They know better where to spend money and manage things efficiently.
» Freebies are provided by the government to win elections, which thus becomes a pain for the government discom.

Summary:
It is high time for India to switch from traditional energy sources to a renewable based country. India has the ambition to be carbon neutral by 2070 and this enables us to push the vision for India. Decentralization plays an important role in the development of our overall economy but also in reducing losses which can be beneficial to farmers. India is the pioneer of the international solar alliance and it is also in line with the vision of India One Sun, One Earth, One Grid with the help of energy harnessed by the sun that we can use for our energy production needs. On July 30, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also launched the National Solar Gateway, where we can apply for solar connection for our homes, and we can get the subsidy within 30 days in our bank account. These are small steps but big mouths towards the new transformation we are witnessing. We are in the process of transitioning from fossil fuel-based electricity generation to renewable-based electricity generation.

– Dr. Pradit De Nale, Assistant Professor, Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, University of Agriculture. England. & PHT, Ranipool, Sikkim

– Prashant Kumar, B.Tech (Agricultural Engineering) student, College of Agriculture. England. & PHT, Ranipool, Sikkim