The Energy Needs of a Growing Economy

The power situation in Maharashtra is grim. Reports of 12 hours of load shedding in rural areas and 2-4 hours in urban areas are not signs of healthy and conducive atmosphere for business. And this is the situation in a leading, most developed state.

This does not bode well for the Services Industry, the Manufacturing Industry, the Agriculture Industry or the housewife glued to the television. With the improving lifestyle, the power needs are going to rise exponentially – a fact that seems totally overlooked when the economic reforms, propelling today’s boom were started. If the economy is to grow at a healthy 7-8% rate, then the power needs will grow faster.

But in one of its Nehruvian mode of let-government-run-companies, the Indian government has been slow in propagating reforms in the power sector.

There are also compelling needs to invest into renewable energy resources – Sun, Wind etc.

Why petroleum products are bad?

With so many cars and automobiles running around the roads, India is soon on the path of becoming a gas guzzler. The rates of Petrol and Diesel are already high. Some newspaper ridiculously suggested that it is because of the taxes. While that is true, I would be extremely skeptical of simply nixing all the taxes on Petrol/Diesel…. In fact, anything that we do to minimize the usage of black gold should be applauded.

The reasons to reduce petrol/diesel usage could be argued as:

1. Almost all of the Petrol/Diesel that we use is imported. This makes us invariably dependent on the countries whose policies are often hostile to our national integrity.
2. We are inadvertently adding to the greenhouse gases. It does not make sense to increase our contribution to greenhouse gases and then work towards reducing it.
3. We still do not have the road infrastructure that makes the usage of vehicle by every adult a pleasant experience. (That is a lame excuse, but nevertheless…)
4. Given the vehicle conditions and road conditions, we are adding to pollution, which is affecting the general (mental and physical) health of the society.

Coal also burns bad, and having electrical plants away from where you live only takes the pollution away from you, does not reduce it.

The clean burning fuels like CNG or LPG are certainly options, but for the import factor attached to it. The second Dabhol contract had linked the electricity rate to dollar fluctuations – long live Indian politicians and a good portion of the new pipeline will go through Pakistan before the gas reaches India. These factors are discouraging enough!

And some day, we are going to exhaust these natural resources, so why not think ahead and make plans for the rainy day?

Alternate Energy Sources

We have to look for alternate energy sources and sooner the better. We are one of those countries, which are blessed abundantly by the sun god. Why not invest in research on solar energy? I am sure; we will be able to have better efficiency and energy conversion some day in near future.

In the meantime, though, we should still propagate the usage of solar energy. Let every roof-top be of solar panels. What would that achieve?

1. Treat each building or house as a unit. The unit will install Solar Panels for energy creation. For example, even if the energy generated serves 20% (I am just making this number up, if it is more, even better) of energy needs of that unit, it will reduce the shortfall of energy.
2. Less rain water will be exposed to the roofs – automatically alleviating the problem of leaky roofs for many!

The solar panels should be designed such that they make use of both the photo-energy and the thermal-energy from sun. Sure, there will be rainy and cloudy days that will obstruct the power generation. At that time, we can fall back on the conventional sources. The peak demand from MSEB could very well shift from summer to rainy season…. Even that will have a good impact on the energy balance of the country. Besides, we would be doing this at no cost to the environment.

The cost of the solar panel itself continues to be prohibitive. But with mass demand and research, these prices can be brought down. Besides, the burgeoning middle class that does not mind spending lots of money in Malls and on Pizzas or on designer homes, will shell out some moolah for their future, won’t they?

Wind Energy

Research has already shown that Satara district rainfall problems were not because of windmills. Every effort should be made to install more windmills and increase the contribution of the energy generated by windmills. Tamil Nadu has already taken a lead in this area with states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh closely following. Every effort should be made to popularize the wind energy.

Conditions permitting, villages can be made units of wind-energy, with each village producing at least 20% of its own power needs. The cooperative movement has made wonders to the sugar, milk and over all agriculture industry. Similar pattern can be adopted or it can be out-sourced to NGOs when it comes to wind energy generation. Installations done per village to reduce its dependency on the state-produced, often costly electricity.

I think this approach, instead of lump sum free power to the farmers, would have helped all political parties. But, please, no corruption in installing windmills or solar panels.