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With 21,136 MW of wind energy installed in 2014, India is considered a success story in terms of net installed capacity. Few existing studies on Indian wind energy have highlighted the important role of institutions, and how they stemmed from the work of advocacy groups; studies also tend to focus on short time periods. This paper uses the notion of collective institutional entrepreneurship to analyze Indian wind energy across three time periods (1985–1995, 1995–2003, and 2003–2013). The analysis shows that Indian wind power development was driven by collective efforts of institutional entrepreneurs using two aggregated strategies, that is, supportive techno-economic and socio-political networks and an indigenous innovation infrastructure. The paper highlights setbacks, controversies, and tensions between various entrepreneurship groups and argues that actions must be taken for including actors who have been marginalized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Renewable energy-based off-grid or decentralised electricity supply has traditionally considered a single technology-based limited level of supply to meet the basic needs, without considering reliable energy provision to rural consumers. The purpose of this paper is to propose the best hybrid technology combination for electricity generation from a mix of renewable energy resources to satisfy the electrical needs in a reliable manner of an off-grid remote village, Palari in the state of Chhattisgarh, India. Four renewable resources, namely, small-scale hydropower, solar photovoltaic systems, wind turbines and bio-diesel generators are considered. The paper estimates the residential, institutional, commercial, agricultural and small-scale industrial demand in the pre-HOMER analysis. Using HOMER, the paper identifies the optimal off-grid option and compares this with conventional grid extension. The solution obtained shows that a hybrid combination of renewable energy generators at an off-grid location can be a cost-effective alternative to grid extension and it is sustainable, techno-economically viable and environmentally sound. The paper also presents a post-HOMER analysis and discusses issues that are likely to affect/influence the realisation of the optimal solution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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]

Abstract: India is facing acute energy shortage that is likely to affect its economic development. There are severe supply side constraints in term of coal and gas shortages that are likely to continue in the near future. Hence, in its current focus to solving the energy shortage problem and sustaining the development trajectory, the country should aim at a balance between supply side and demand side measures. Energy Efficiency in end use is increasingly gaining importance as one of the most cost effective options for achieving short to medium term energy savings. India has initiated the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency under National Action Plan for Climate Change which addresses various aspects of energy efficiency such as technology, financing, fiscal incentive and also creation of energy efficiency as a market instrument. However, even though energy efficiency has substantial scope in the Indian subcontinent, the market for energy efficiency has been limited. This paper discusses the concept of mega Demand Side Management projects as a DSM Power Plant. A DSM Power Plant acts as an umbrella with multiple energy efficiency schemes under its ambit aimed at transforming energy efficiency into a business by providing a push to the scale of operation as well as financial sustenance to energy efficiency projects. This paper expounds on the various aspects of DSM Power Plant in terms of its policy and institutional mechanism for the large scale implementation of energy efficiency in India. This paper provides an illustration of the concept of DSM Power Plant model through a case study in one of the states (Rajasthan) of India. Further, a comparative analysis of the cost of generation from DSM Power Plant and a representative conventional power plant (CPP) in Rajasthan has been undertaken and the DSM Power Plant comes out to be a more cost effective option. The concept of DSM Power Plant will not only address the issue of energy shortages but will also help the financially thwarted utilities to reduce their revenue deficit in the near future. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the relationships between sustainable building design and occupant well-being. It starts with a definition of sustainable design and well-being, and focuses on the relationships between energy performance and occupant feedback. Methodologically it draws on detailed monitoring and surveys of 12 case study office buildings in the UK and India, and the paper uses the data to explore whether energy use and associated CO2 emissions are correlated to occupant satisfaction and comfort. The results demonstrate that increased energy use in the case study buildings is associated with increased mechanisation (e.g. centralised air conditioning) and reduced occupant control. This reduced control in turn is shown to relate to reduced occupant comfort and satisfaction. Finally, the paper reveals that the reported health conditions of occupants correlates strongly with their levels of satisfaction. The overall conclusion is that energy use in typical office buildings is inversely correlated with the well-being of the occupants: more energy use does not improve well-being. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: India''s energy challenges are multi-pronged. They are manifested through growing demand for modern energy carriers, a fossil fuel dominated energy system facing a severe resource crunch, the need for creating access to quality energy for the large section of deprived population, vulnerable energy security, local and global pollution regimes and the need for sustaining economic development. Renewable energy is considered as one of the most promising alternatives. Recognizing this potential, India has been implementing one of the largest renewable energy programmes in the world. Among the renewable energy technologies, bioenergy has a large diverse portfolio including efficient biomass stoves, biogas, biomass combustion and gasification and process heat and liquid fuels. India has also formulated and implemented a number of innovative policies and programmes to promote bioenergy technologies. However, according to some preliminary studies, the success rate is marginal compared to the potential available. This limited success is a clear indicator of the need for a serious reassessment of the bioenergy programme. Further, a realization of the need for adopting a sustainable energy path to address the above challenges will be the guiding force in this reassessment. In this paper an attempt is made to consider the potential of bioenergy to meet the rural energy needs: (1) biomass combustion and gasification for electricity; (2) biomethanation for cooking energy (gas) and electricity; and (3) efficient wood-burning devices for cooking. The paper focuses on analysing the effectiveness of bioenergy in creating this rural energy access and its sustainability in the long run through assessing: the demand for bioenergy and potential that could be created; technologies, status of commercialization and technology transfer and dissemination in India; economic and environmental performance and impacts; bioenergy policies, regulatory measures and barrier analysis. The whole assessment aims at presenting bioenergy as an integral part of a sustainable energy strategy for India. The results show that bioenergy technology (BET) alternatives compare favourably with the conventional ones. The cost comparisons show that the unit costs of BET alternatives are in the range of 15–187% of the conventional alternatives. The climate change benefits in terms of carbon emission reductions are to the tune of 110T C per year provided the available potential of BETs are utilized. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Energy planning in many developing Asian countries has neglected the structure of energy demand and how it is likely to evolve as development takes its path. The limited availability of energy consumption data makes it very difficult to assess the energy savings potential at end-use level. Energy planning requires the formulation of a proper modelling framework that supports the definition of energy policies. From the different approaches available, Input - Output (I-O) models are particularly useful, since they allow considering different impacts that can be consistent with different energy policy options. This paper proposes a novel I-O modelling framework by introducing a bottom-up approach into an I-O model which is combined with technical data for the holistic assessment of energy efficient technologies in the residential sector, which can assist energy decision-makers of India on the appraisal of the future impacts of the current national energy saving targets. A large size platform of real data has also been gathered considering different data sources, namely the household building stock characterization, the number of operating days according to the climatic regions of India, the lifetime and the investment cost of equipment. Finally, the main results are discussed and future research opportunities are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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: Four out of five people without electricity live in rural areas of developing countries, mainly in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Most of these households use kerosene lamps for lighting. The light outputs of these devices are very poor and vary from about 10 to 100 lumens, depending on the type of lamps and wicks. The paper compares the technology, economics and CO2 emissions of kerosene-based lamps with modern bio-energy systems and solar photovoltaics. Light output, luminous efficacy and energy consumption are used for comparing the technical parameters. Economics is expressed in terms of the cost of useful energy (cost per 1000 lumen hours), determined from the annualized life cycle cost of the systems. Fuel consumption rates are used to determine CO2 emissions of all the devices. This study reveals that efficient electric lighting provides higher light levels and low energy consumption as well as low CO2 emissions. In the absence of grid electricity, distributed renewable energy systems such as solar photovoltaics (at individual house level) and modern bio-energy systems are better options for providing good quality and reliable lighting in rural areas compared to traditional kerosene-based lighting. Moreover, these renewable energy systems as well as grid-based electricity systems also reduce CO2 emissions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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]

Accurately forecasting energy demand can better predict future changes in energy demand. This study is aimed to develop more accurate clean energy prediction model from two perspectives of the modeling mechanisms and improvements on the model structure. For this purpose, a novel Riccati–Bernoulli differential equation is established through social practice theory, supply–demand relationship, and the preference of consumption in the energy economy. Considering the limited information in observation data, this differential equation is then transformed into a grey Riccati–Bernoulli model (GRBM(1,1)) according to the differential information principle. With the response function solved on the basis of polynomial equation theory and the power exponent optimized combining the modified flower pollination algorithm, the main process of GRBM(1,1) can be summarized. The four validation examples are provided for confirming the effectiveness and reliability of the new model by comparing with other existing models. Finally, the proposed model is employed to estimate and forecast the clean energy consumption in China and India. The results show that the proposed model demonstrates better estimation in all cases and efficiency in short-term clean energy consumption forecasting. Therefore, by using this optimum model, China's preference coefficient in total energy consumption is 0.7103, lower than that of India (0.8799), and China's preference coefficient in clean energy consumption is 0.9665, higher than that of Indian (0.7155), which means China has less interest to increase total energy consumption but more interest in popularizing the clean energy. • This paper proposed a novel grey Riccati–Bernoulli model for energy consumption prediction. • A specific solution algorithm for this Riccati–Bernoulli equation is discussed in this research. • We compared the proposed novel grey model with other 12 exiting prediction models. • The novel model also reveals China's effort in popularizing the use of clean energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]