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The sustainability transition of electricity sectors is a matter of competition between multiple emerging renewable systems and dominant, established conventional systems. These transitions are multi-dimensional and are featured with non-linear and causal interactions between social, technical, economic and political components. Understanding the dynamic of transitions, i.e. how transitions unfold, can inform effective policy interventions. This paper aims to present a narrative-modelling approach to improve the understanding and description of transition dynamics in electricity sectors. The central ideas of the paper are: (1) the use of qualitative transition narratives helps to capture the co-evolving nature of society and technology which are simplified in modelling approaches; (2) narratives, with concepts from the sustainability transitions field, also guide the development of a model structure; and (3) computational models, in return, reproduce the complexity of transition dynamics, i.e. feedback loops, non-linearity, and time delays—the features which are impracticable to analyse with transition narratives alone. We use the historical transition of India's electricity sector to demonstrate the implementation of our proposed approach. First, an overview of the transition narratives is presented and the model structure, developed based on the narratives, is explained. Then, it is argued how the coupling of the narratives and model improves our understating of the positive impacts as well as the side-effects of stable feed-in tariffs and accelerated depreciation on the penetration levels of wind and solar electricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Well designed Renewable Energy (RE) policies and their effective regulation is the key to promote RE generation in the world. Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) mechanism is a market-based policy instrument which facilitates Renewable (Energy) Purchase Obligations (RPOs) in order to increase RE generation in a country. The recently conceived and implemented REC mechanism in India attempts to involve various stakeholders in an economically efficient manner and has been effective in its first year of operation. The paper commences with the background and the genesis of REC mechanism in India. It characterises the REC trading mechanism and analyses the performance of the REC market for the FY 2011–12. Comparing the financial viability for sale of RE by project developers in certain key states, the paper shows that REC mechanism is more profitable than entering into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for sale of RE at Preferential Tariff (Feed-in-Tariffs). Thus, the REC market which has attained a size of 2.3 billion INR in its first year of existence is forecasted to grow manifold in the future and the paper attempts to forecast the market size in near term. Further analysis of the REC market reveals that although there are inherent advantages of the REC mechanism over other methods of promoting growth of RE, the market is currently subject to various distortions and the paper suggests few steps for correcting these distortions by appropriate market re-design. The paper concludes that the REC market mechanism has gained momentum and can effectively promote RE generation in an economically efficient manner, with benefits to all stakeholders, provided it is strictly implemented and continuous corrections are given in the right direction by the market regulator. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Renewable energy can play a strategic role in India in meeting the country’s growing energy demands, as well as combating climate change. Policymakers have recognized this potential and over the last decade have intensified their efforts towards creating a conducive regulatory and policy framework. Policy instruments such as renewable obligations, feed-in-tariffs and generation based incentives have specially aided the transformation towards large scale generation, enabling higher efficiency and lower costs of generation. However, financing has emerged as a significant barrier for sustaining the momentum gained in recent years. Given this background this paper provides an overview on the evolution of large scale generation and the consequent changes in financing requirements. It further reviews the emerging trends and barriers in the financing landscape and analyses the impact of policy performance in this context. Finally, it considers the design of a national renewable finance framework complete with targeted finance push instruments that can complement existing demand pull policies in facilitating investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (IPB) are the largest South Asian countries in terms of land area, gross domestic product (GDP), and population. The growth in these countries is impacted by inadequate renewable energy policy and implementation over the years, resulting in slow progress towards human development and economic sustainability. These developing countries are blessed with huge potential for renewable energy resources; however, they still heavily rely on fossil fuels (93%). IPB is a major contributor to the total energy consumption of the world and its most energy-intensive building sector (India 47%, Pakistan 55% and Bangladesh 55%) displays inadequate energy performance. This paper comprehensively reviews the energy mix and consumption in IPB with special emphasis on current policies and its impact on economic and human development. The main performance indicators have been critically analyzed for the period 1970–2017. The strength of this paper is a broad overview on energy and development of energy integration in major South Asian countries. Furthermore, it presents a broad deepening on the main sector of energy consumption, i.e., the building sector. The paper also particularly analyzes the existing buildings energy efficiency codes and policies, with specific long-term recommendations to improve average energy consumption per person. The study also examines the technical and regulatory barriers and recommends specific measures to adapt renewable technologies, with special attention to policies affecting energy consumption. The analysis and results are general and can be applied to other developing countries of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper introduces the approach and concept for DSM in India. A comprehensive methodology for implementing a DSM programme in India has been outlined. Detailed step wise action plan formulated for planning and implementing of DSM programme in India is presented. Various policies and regulations framed by India for promotion of DSM activities targeting different sectors are studied. The deficiencies in the existing regulatory and policy framework which have withheld deployment of DSM programmes on a large scale in India have been identified. A number of barriers and challenges that are needed to overcome for realizing the potential of DSM in India are also discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Most studies on household energy choices have considered income and education as suitable proxies for socio-cultural contexts, primarily because the available data on household energy is from census surveys which are mainly household consumption surveys, not focused energy surveys. Acknowledging the existing data constraints, a more focussed household energy survey was designed for rural India with the aim of better understanding determinants of current energy use patterns, energy choices, to measure the impacts of these factors, and importantly, arrive at key policy insights. This paper revisits the definition of access to include for reliability and quality going beyond conventional understanding. It also relooks at the role of gender in household energy choices. Having established that apart from income, socio-cultural factors may have a greater role in determining household energy choices, the model results indicate electricity access would have a positive impact on cooking energy choices only after meeting a minimum threshold requirement. As women move towards more formal employment, the odds of choosing cleaner fuels increase significantly. Thus, while macro-policies may provide important guidelines and the necessary framework, implementation strategies need to be designed at the local level through a participatory approach making energy an integral part of the development paradigm. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Biomass based energy generation is one of the major focus areas of renewable energy programs in India. The strength of India's biomass resources mostly lies in the agricultural sector. A large quantity of crop residue biomass is generated in India. However, crop residue biomasses are distributed resources with variation in spatio-temporal availability and its characteristics. Competing uses of residues also vary geographically. Therefore, local biomass databases are important for decentralized bioenergy programs. However, in India, state wise crop level biomass database is limited. The present paper assessed crop residue biomass and subsequently bioenergy potential in all the 28 states of India using crop statistics and standard procedure. A total of 39 residues from 26 crops cultivated in India are considered for the study. Overall, India produces 686MT gross crop residue biomass on annual basis, of which 234MT (34% of gross) are estimated as surplus for bioenergy generation. At state level, Uttar Pradesh produces the highest amount of crop residue amongst all the 28 states. Amongst all the crops, sugarcane produces the highest amount of surplus residue followed by rice. The estimated annual bioenergy potential from the surplus crop residue biomass is 4.15EJ, equivalent to 17% of India's total primary energy consumption. There exists variation from 679MJ (West Bengal) to 16,840MJ (Punjab) of per capita crop residue bioenergy potential amongst the states of India. The information generated in this study is expected to be useful for decentralized crop residue based energy planning by the states of India which in turn would positively influence the overall renewable energy growth in India. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: India's power generation capacity needs to be augmented to, support the growing demands for electricity. India, which has predominantly used fossil fuels to power its generators need to make a switch to clean energy fuels. But renewable sources form a miniscule portion (26GW,~12%) of India's overall installed power capacity (210GW). There is no contribution from offshore wind farms to the energy basket for India, as there is no policy framework to encourage the development of offshore wind farms. Several European countries have tapped the offshore wind energy potential to reduce their dependence on adopted by these countries to identify the core components (21 of them) of robust policy intervention. A detailed questionnaire was administered to 181 stakeholders of wind energy in India to seek their feedback on these building blocks. These core components (variables in research parlance) are then subjected to factor analysis to understand the underlying structure of the variables. The factor analysis logically reduces these 21 variables into five factors (Government support, fiscal and quota based incentives, availability of local expertise, capital for investments and building an enabling R&D ecosystem), which are then fed into a logistic regression model as ‘independent variables’ to predict the probability of growth of offshore wind energy (dependent variable) in the country. The logistic regression model gives the weight (the impact) of these independent variables in influencing the growth of offshore wind energy in India. It emerges that government support, fiscal and quota based incentives and building an enabling R&D ecosystem have a much higher impact on the growth of offshore wind energy for India. This paper fills the gap of absence of an empirically tested framework on offshore wind energy policy for India. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The concept of green computing is a step toward advanced information technology‐related data computations. There is an urgent need to develop sustainable mobile telecommunication networks subscribed by Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). This paper aims at deploying major recommendations and directions in computing systems directed by regulating authorities. Green computing–based power‐saving policies include virtualization technique, power‐saving method, and recycling technique‐type solution components that we tried to embed in existing systems. The energy‐efficient green computing reserves the reliability and power of information‐driven technology. This research paper provides a comprehensive approach toward applying green mechanism by spotting the difference between energy consumption of current academic scenario and after embedding power‐saving policies of green computing. Moreover, an account has been maintained about the amount of energy preservation. The extraordinary energy‐ and cost‐saving features of green computing make environment sustainable and lively for future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines whether energy use drives economic growth or vice versa in the Indian context during 1970-71 to 2004-05. Utilizing Granger causality test, the study suggests that it is the economic growth that fuels more demand for both crude oil and electricity consumption and it is the only growth of coal consumption that drives economic growth. When influence of different components of energy on major two components of economic growth is investigated with the same causality test, none of the energy components found to be significantly influencing the two components of economic growth viz. private consumption and investment. In contrast, the variance decomposition analysis of Vector Autoregression (VAR) suggests that there could be a bi-directional influence between electricity consumption and economic growth, other results remaining unchanged. Therefore, the study yields mixed and contradictory result compared to the previous studies in the Indian context. However, on the basis of application of two econometric tools, the study with little more conviction suggests for reducing crude oil and natural gas consumption at least in the consumption sectors, which don?t directly contribute to production or add to capital formation of the economy, for achieving higher rate of growth in the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Energy policy has to have a long-term perspective. To formulate it one needs to know the contours of energy requirements and options. Different approaches have been followed in literature, each with their own problems. A top down econometric approach provides little guidance on policies, while a bottom up approval requires too much knowledge and too many assumptions. Using top-down econometric approach for aggregate overall benchmarking and a detailed activity analysis model, Integrated Energy System Model, for a few large sectors, provides a unique combination for easing the difficulties of policy formulation. The model is described in this paper. Eleven alternate scenarios are built, designed to map out extreme points of feasible options. Results show that even after employing all domestic energy resource to their full potential, there will be a continued rise of fossil fuel use, continued importance of coal, and continued rise of import dependence. Energy efficiency emerges as a major option with a potential to reduce energy requirement by as much as 17%. Scenario results point towards pushing for development of alternative sources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Following India's efforts to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases, there has been a transition from fossil fuels to clean energy sources, such as solar and wind, in the energy portfolio. The renewable energy sector is widely acknowledged as a fertile ground for employment creation, as it is labour-intensive. Against this backdrop, the main objective of this paper is to provide an empirical explanation of how the growth of renewable energy sources, particularly solar photovoltaic (PV) technology, affects employment creation in India. The findings reveal that, despite a substantial investment in India's solar PV technology, the number of jobs created by the sector declined marginally from 164000 in 2017–114000 in 2018. India's estimated employment elasticity is just 0.004, implying that the level of employment does not show a significant positive response to changes in installed capacity. Almost 60 per cent of the global solar PV workforce is in China, which has become the leading country both in terms of installed capacity of global solar PV technology and manufacturing of solar PV cells and modules. The wide disparity in solar PV employment between India and China is explained by the former's excessive dependence on China for solar PV cells. Alongside climate conservation, India should, therefore, place more emphasis on revitalising the domestic solar manufacturing industry to bring about efficient use of the nation's untapped resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]