Category: Editorial

Coal-based thermal plants play an important role in meeting the energy requirements of our country. But plants aged 25 and above deliver a massive blow to health and environment. Old coal fired power plants have higher consumption, meaning higher emission of pollutants. The pollutants are Particulate Matter – hi-grade and noxious SO2 and NOX. This […]

There are two reports: from Niti Ayog & International Energy Agency (IEA) and both declare that coal will be around for more than a decade as mainstay feedstock for the electricity sector. Those participating in coal mine auctions can rest assured that their investments are safe and will run the lifecycle of the mine they […]

Government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme announced under PM’s Atmanirbhar Bharat directive is seeing huge gains in the power sector and fields aligned to it. While manufacturers will get incentives for their investments in production facilities, India will gain from an expanded manufacturing portfolio, accretion of capacities and job growth. A total of 13 key […]

At COP26 held in Glasgow (October 31-November 13, 2021), where Heads of Government of different countries gathered to make their commitments and express their concerns on climate change, Prime Minister Modi enumerated five major climate actions of India. These are: By 2030 India will reach its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW. It will meet […]

Political parties like the AAP have made freebie culture in the power sector their electoral gain strategy. This so-called ‘Kejriwal model of governance’ is bad economics, distorts our democratic process and a certain roadmap for future debt traps which carry high risk of becoming unmanageable and even toxic. After a failed 49-day coalition with the […]

Will the government bite the bullet? This is the basic liberalization question which is asked of every government and it pertains to two domains namely, subsidies and privatization. Both issues stir up a political whirlpool and therein begins stalling and obstructions. Given this past experience, the government has shown deft and mature management by unveiling […]

Government’s new scheme for the distribution sector seeks to address one dogged problem namely financial sustainability for discoms. Called, Reforms-based and Results-linked, Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme, it has an outlay of Rs 303,758 crore and will have Rs 97,631 crore as gross budgetary support (GBS) from the centre. It is targeted at the government owned […]

Ageing and outlived coal units ruinous to health and environment need to go. Overall in the country, 165 units of coal-based plants account for 36,540 MW of power and are in the age bracket of 25 to 56 years. A thermal plant has an efficient life of 25 years and thereafter inefficiencies set in in […]

This edition’s cover story chronicles the covid numbers through the first and second waves, the pandemic explained in graphs, plots the crests and the troughs, the decline and the ferocity of the mutant re-emergence. It also tabulates the vaccination status of our country, the available vaccines, the production capacities and their rollouts plus the administrative […]

The AP High Court has suspended the power ministry’s ‘No LC-No power’ directive that came into effect from June 2019 to protect payments to gencos dues from discoms. Government data showed that country wide discoms’ overdue amount till January 2021 stood at Rs 125,478 crore. The AP High Court order states that the centre cannot […]

Budget 2021-22 is all about Big Stimulus. At the same time, the government has made it clear that it will carry out administrative strikes against those elements of domestic industry which abuse protective measures. A case in point is the temporary revocation of the CVD on certain steel products which were mostly imported from China. […]

Consumers have always been harried when it came to standards of electricity service, compensations, reconnections. Historically, they have been at the mercy of discoms, which are monopolies. This is going to change soon. For the first time, the government has created an enforceable consumers rights module in the Electricity Act and notified it through the […]