The India Power Sector has been constantly evolving and rapidly transitioning over the last few years, with several new developments in its policies, regulations and programmes. Planning, implementation and monitoring of power sector operations have become complex and necessitate strong data analytics. The Government of India has been significantly striving towards data availability and transparency via its various power sector dashboards such as UDAY, UJALA, SAUBHAGYA, TARANG etc and periodical datasets by various Government agencies such as CEA, MOP, POSOCO etc.
Despite these efforts, much of the data remains scattered and incomprehensible. Also, it becomes quite challenging to keep track of multiple Government dashboards, reports and portals to holistically understand and be updated with sector progress. We also realized that there are private companies and data analytics firms which provide comprehensive publications detailing sector performance/progress, investment outlooks, and projections. However, these are expensive or subscription-based knowledge products.
With this background, Vasudha Foundation started the India Power Outlook Series initiative with support from Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation. The semi-annual series aims to provide a succinct description of the current status of India’s power sector and act as a tracker by analyzing latest trends and developments. The intent is to develop a more informed understanding of the power sector and enhance discourse amongst various stakeholders.
Till date, we have developed two reports under these series. The Volume 1 titled ‘the state of play’ provides a broad narrative of the power sector highlighting its policy challenges and opportunities. The Volume 2 which will be launched during the webinar, further deep dives on different aspects of India’s trajectory towards meeting the 175 GW Renewable Energy target by 2022.
The Webinar focuses on:
- Release of the India Power Outlook Series, Volume-II Report, which deep dives on different aspects of India’s trajectory towards meeting the 175 GW Renewable Energy target by 2022.
- Panel discussion on key issues related to Indian power sector value chain e.g.
- Meeting the 175 GW Renewable Energy target
- The role of the new power couple – RE +Storage in meeting the 175 GW and 455 GW RE target.
- Continuous financial reform packages for Electricity Distribution Utilities (DISCOMs)
- Electricity demand in the post Covid-19 scenario.
Panelists:
- V Subramanian, IAS (Retd), Former Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy – Moderator
- P Uma Shankar, IAS (Retd), Former Secretary, Ministry of Power
- Sushil Kumar Soonee, Former CEO, Power Systems Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO)
- Debashish Majumdar, Former Chairman and Managing Director, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) and Former Member, Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission
- Gopal Saxena, Independent Director, West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd. (WBSEDCL). Former Director, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited and BSES Yamuna Power Limited, Delhi
- Saibaba Vutukuri, Chief Executive Officer, Vikram Solar
- D V Giri, Secretary General, Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA)
- Rajesh K Mediratta, Director(Strategy, Regulatory & Communication) at Indian Energy Exchange Limited
Moderated by: Mr. V. Subramanian, IAS (Retd), Former Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Current Secretary General, India Wind Energy Association
Hosted by: Vivek Sen, Associate Director Clean Power, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, Srinivas Krishnaswamy, CEO, Vasudha Foundation