Seeing India’s energy transition through its States

Source– The post is based on the article “Seeing India’s energy transition through its States” published in “The Hindu” on 7th June 2023.

Syllabus: GS3- Energy

Relevance- Issues related to energy transition

News- In the upcoming G20 forum, India is planning to propose a multiple energy pathways approach to accommodate the diverse contexts and development trajectories of countries.

Why are States critical actors in India’s energy transition?

There is a multi-tier governance of energy production and usage. An effective transition will require narrowing the implementation gaps between the Centre and the States.

India’s achievements on its 2022 target for 175 GW renewable energy offer some insights. Only Gujarat, Karnataka, and Rajasthan met their individual targets.

States are important for implementation. Centre may set goals. But the realisation of these goals often depends on how they are aligned with State priorities and capabilities.

There are legacy issues in the electricity sector, such as high losses, unreliable supply and service quality. It could be exacerbated by the transition. These must be addressed at the State level.

States are laboratories of policy innovations. For example, early initiatives by Gujarat and Rajasthan on solar have contributed significantly to renewable energy uptake at the national level.

Similarly, PM KUSUM is an adoption of successful State experiments on the solarisation of agriculture at a national scale.

States could also be roadblocks to national goals. It happens when the goals are perceived to be misaligned with State priorities.

What is the way forward to ensure that the state plays an important role in energy transition?

There is a need to engage with diverse State contexts, capabilities, and priorities. These are shaped by various factors like techno-economic options, fiscal space, and social and political imperatives.

An effective transition requires multi-scalar planning and execution strategy, consideration of inter-linkages and cross learning.

Central agencies have also developed multiple indexes that rank States on different aspects of energy transition. There is a need to complement this with analysis of State-level preparedness for energy transition.

How a state-level framework to understand plans, actions, and governance processes towards an energy transition will expedite transition?

First, it helps to broaden the transition discourse from a narrow set of outcomes. It includes the processes that shape the outcomes.

Understanding the effects of transitions on transparency and accountability in processes, and affordability and reliability of services is crucial.

It leads to greater transparency which could enable participation of stakeholders in the processes. It will ensure public legitimacy.

It would create a greater sensitivity to State-level diversities on priorities, capacities, and opportunities in the national policy discourse. It enables more evidence-based policy choices towards a pragmatic energy transition.