India’s comprehensive National Energy Policy to be out soon

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said India will soon have a comprehensive national energy policy and lauded the country’s clean energy programme under which renewable energy generation capacity has doubled in the last three years.

“Having almost completed our programme to connect all villages with electricity, we have launched the Saubhagya scheme. This will provide electricity connections to all families by December 2018,” Modi said. “Under our clean energy programme, in just three years, we have doubled the renewable capacity from 30,000 Megawatt (Mw) to 60,000 MW. Solar energy generation has increased over 80 per cent in the last year,” Modi added.

He was speaking at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017 held in Hyderabad. “We are working on developing a national gas grid and a comprehensive National Energy Policy is also in the pipeline,” Modi said.

The governments National Energy Policy (NEP) aims to chart the way forward to meet PM Modi’s bold announcements in the energy domain. The four key objectives of the new energy policy include access at affordable prices, improved energy security and independence, greater sustainability and economic growth. The policy is being formulated by NITI Aayog, the country’s think-tank, and the draft NEP has already been released for stakeholder comments.

The Modi government is currently working on a plan to develop 14,765 Km of additional pipeline infrastructure as part of a larger goal to shift to a gas-based economy and increase the availability of natural gas across the country.
Currently, the country has over 15,000 km of natural gas pipeline infrastructure and an additional 15,000 kms of pipeline is required for completion of the National Gas Grid.

The gas grid plan consists of different pipeline sections to be executed by different entities having multiple completion time schedules. The centre had recently decided to provide budgetary support of Rs 5,176 crore, 40 per cent of the estimated cost of Rs 12,940 crore, to GAIL for development of Jagdishpur-Haldia and Bokaro-Dharma Gas Pipeline (JHBDPL) project. The project, named “Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga of Eastern India” plans to bring natural gas to the eastern part of the country.