Mint’s EnergyScape will be attended by thought leaders and experts who will deliberate on these issues for ensuring reliable and uninterrupted power supply to households, at a time of government’s focus on improving energy access and India’s growth imperatives. The conclave will also seek to generate answers to the challenges in meeting the emerging energy needs of India.
The panel on Conventional Energy has Rajesh Kakkar, Director (Offshore), ONGC; Rajeev Sharma, chairman and managing director, Power Finance Corp. Ltd; Debasish Mishra, partner, Deloitte India; Reji Kumar Pillai, president, India Smart Grid Forum and chairman, Global Smart Grid Federation and Akshay Jaitly, partner, Trilegal.
The second panel, on Clean Energy, will have Anand Kumar, secretary, ministry of new and renewable energy; Upendra Tripathy, director general, International Solar Alliance; Dr. R.B. Grover, member, Indian Atomic Energy Commission; Amplus founder and managing director Sanjeev Aggarwal; Amit Jain, senior energy specialist, World Bank; and Neeraj Menon, partner, Trilegal.
The panel discussions will be moderated by Mint’s Utpal Bhaskar.
Here are the live updates from the event:
A panel discussion is happening on “Conventional Energy: Towards an efficient and an environmentally safer journey – challenges and the way ahead”
“Even though solar power is being generated at ₹3 per unit the co
“We have 75% of power coming from coal. The fuel inflation is 5% every year. Renewables as a whole are not contributing more than 10%. Lack of recovery from agriculture and AT&C losses are something the paying consumer is saddled with” says Mishra when asked why consumer is paying even though power generation is getting cheaper
“Odisha started and then Delhi followed up, then we had the distribution franchise experience; politically it was very difficult to go all out on a privatization exercise,” says Mishra
“We believe transmission grid is fairly stable and more advanced than many of the developed countries,” says Reji Kumar Pillai, president, India Smart Grid Forum
“State governments should pay dues,” says Sharma
“Nowadays, state discoms’ financial health is not good, they are looking for cheaper power and cheaper PPAs,” says PFC’s Sharma
“With crude below $50 per barrel, it might help our economy but many industries will face supply chain crisis. The advantage of cheaper commodity prices will also bring the headwind of a global recession.” says Mishra
“Coronavirus will not affect ONGC as much as others,” says Rajesh Kakkar, Director (Offshore), ONGC
“Funding is not an issue for a viable project,” says Sharma when asked if there’s enough money available to shift to green energy
“Conventional power will be the mainstay of the economy at least for the next 15-20 years,” says Rajeev Sharma, CMD, Power Finance Corp
Last 6-7 years, China has stabilised its coal consumption, says Mishra
Wishing away fossil fuel overnight is not possible: Debasish Mishra, Partner, Deloitte India
What the Power Minister said
“I think if we solve the land problem, we solve the discom problem, the rate of growth of power in our country is going to multiply,” says the Power Minister
“If we supply enough electricity, the demand will come”
“Most discoms don’t buy enough power because of shortage of cash”
“Manual system of printing electricity bill, serving it will be phased out”
“Sending people every month to read every electricity metre is well nigh impossible”
“Discoms in South India are incurring losses”
“Cumulative losses of most discoms have come down”
“We want to make the world more liveable for our great grandchildren”
“We intend to electrify the economy, which means more and more sectors will shift to electricity than fossil fuels or petrol or diesel. We’ll also switch cooking to electricity”
At COP21 in Paris, we pledged 40% of our established capacity will come from renewables by 2030: Singh
“Our vision is that we want to reduce our carbon footprint”
$13 billion spent on strengthening distribution systems: Singh
The CAGR in past five years has been 6.2%, says Power Minister
“India looking at a regional power grid in South Asia”
Before our government came to office, we were a power-deficit country: Singh
We have connected whole country into one grid: Singh
“Load shedding was the norm before the Modi government came into power in 2014,” says Power Minister Raj Kumar Singh.
