17/07/2020 - Government Policies | Mainstorming

IAS Parliament 4 years

KEY POINTS

· India has been one of the most active participants in the carbon markets and has piloted one of the largest Program of Activities (PoA) under the Clean Development Mechanism to enable efficient lighting in households. This led to over 3 crore replacement of incandescent bulbs with CFLs and energy savings of nearly 1450m KWh.

· One key observation from the implementation of UJALA has been that lower the cost of the bulbs, greater is the penetration. This showcases the effectiveness of carbon finance in rural markets. Creation of bespoke programmes that can lower the cost of equipment/energy can make them attractive for the traditionally price-conscious rural audience.

· Currently, three ongoing and upcoming interventions have the most potential in enabling low carbon development in India’s rural areas:

UJALA 2.0:

· The learnings from the scale and success of the UJALA has been clear. Whenever the cost of LED was subsidised from the usual price of Rs 70/ bulb, the penetration and adoption saw an uptick.

· With the existing PoA, almost five crore rural households can be provided LEDs at Rs 15 each, the balance coming from carbon finance. Such a considerable decrease in prices would thus spur adoption of LEDs in the rural areas, thus creating a thriving market.

Decentralised solar plants:

· We are currently in the process of establishing decentralised solar plants of 0.5 to 10 MW in Maharashtra on unused government land near rural substations. Using carbon finance, additional solar capacity can be added to provide public lighting in rural areas, and batteries can be installed to provide clean peak power in the evening.

· This would not only enable the proliferation of clean energy but will also increase power access. Utilising carbon financing could add on additional returns, thereby making investments in decentralised solar commercially viable and attractive.

Gram Panchayat street lights:

· There is considerable potential for large scale installation of streetlights in rural areas. Using carbon financing and innovative business models, almost 3.5 crore streetlights can be installed across India’s hinterlands. This would lead to a significant infrastructure upgrade for the villages.

· A clear and coherent roadmap, along with synergies between the government, private sector and financial institutions will pave the way for a clean, green and energy secure future.