Prayas (Energy Group) - Updates

" Energy efficiency is inevitable " Article in India together -- Girish Sant,
This short article, published by India Together on August 10, 2010. Given India’s continuing chronic electricity shortages, energy efficiency has become an inevitable option to begin with if we have to quickly provide electricity to the millions without access and also to those who regularly face load shedding. Electric utilities and energy policy planners will have to play a key role in identifying the barriers to energy efficiency implementation, especially with regard to DSM. While labeling has begun to show some results with increasing sales of efficient appliances, much more importance needs to be given to promotion of efficient appliances which can result in very significant savings, thus avoiding the costs (economic, social and environmental) of building new power plants.
http://www.prayaspune.org/peg/publicationsenergy_efficiency_is_%20inevitable_116A01.pdf
Electricity for All – Sreekumar N and Shantanu Dixit, September 2010
"Electricity for All - Ten ideas towards turning rhetoric into reality", the recent discussion paper of Prayas Energy Group. Government is extending all support to the massive generation capacity addition efforts, to support the high economic growth. There is wide spread opposition to many of these projects at the ground level. Considering the low levels of household access and poor quality of rural supply, there is a strong feeling that the poor are not getting many benefits from this capacity addition. This article argues that a few innovative steps, taken urgently can greatly bridge the gap in access to electricity for poor consumers. Government, distribution companies and regulators have to take these steps. Structural reform will take years, and given its complexity and poor record so far, cannot be the only pre-occupation.
http://www.prayaspune.org/peg/publications/electricity_for_all_ten_ideas_110A01.pdf
Efficient well-based irrigation in India: Compilation of experiences with implementing irrigation efficiency Report by Prayas and The International Energy Initiative (IEI), Bangalore, September 2010
With 60% of India’s net sown area irrigated by groundwater and electricity supplied at very low rates for agricultural pumping, there have been serious impacts on groundwater availability and the energy used for its extraction. Consequently, efforts have been made -- from pilot projects, to state-wide programmes -- for improving the efficiency of groundwater pumping, and for its recharge and conservation. In this report, we have compiled information on projects undertaken in India over the past three decades towards improving the efficiency of groundwater pumping and its use for agriculture. This compilation consists of around 65 projects, from 142 sources such as reports, journal articles, and news bulletins, on field activities and studies carried out. Projects have been categorized according to their main activities: either implementation of efficiency-improvements, or (empirical or theoretical) studies. This compilation has two purposes. We intend developing a repository of such reports that is publicly accessible and can be easily expanded. As importantly, based on the information collected, we have elicited key factors affecting the implementation of groundwater pumping efficiency programmes. These have been categorised as: (1) Operational, (2) Technical, (3) Financial, (4) Training, maintenance, and monitoring, (5) Integrative, (6) Location-specific, and (7) Institutional. It is intended that such an assessment of past experiences would benefit future programmes.
http://www.prayaspune.org/peg/publications/iei_prayas_efficient_irrigation%20_%20compilation_113A01.pdf
Clean Energy for Peoples’ Energy Security -- Girish Sant, Ashwin Gambhir, August 2010
While the need for additional electricity supplies is not questionable, the extend of this demand needs to be critically looked into, given the new imperatives for the energy sector, mainly energy security, climate change and local social and environmental issues. Rather than pursuing energy security through elusive options like nuclear, it is important to concentrate on quick implementation of energy efficiency, people-centric decentralized use of RE and reducing the cost of grid connected RE through competition while addressing governance issues of the sector. Within renewables, we need to begin with using all our non-solar, relatively low cost options, like wind and simultaneously support cost reduction measures. Expensive option like solar PV should be used in distributed fashion to supply electricity to critical rural social infrastructure. Such mini smart grids can become a truly transformative step for rural areas and can support the view of energy security as espoused in IEP, namely ‘supply lifeline energy to all our citizens irrespective of their ability to pay … at competitive prices, at all times..’.
This article was published on Livemint in August 2010.
http://www.prayaspune.org/peg/publications/clean_energy_for_peoples'_energy_security_114A01.pdf
(extraxt from and reprinted with permission of Prayas-Energy Group)