Anoop Singh

Rural Electrification in India: Economic and Institutional aspects of Renewables

The paper assesses the demand for rural electricity services and contrasts it with the technology options available for rural electrification. Decentralised Distributed Generation can be economically viable as reflected by case studies reported in literature and analysed in our field study. Project success is driven by economically viable technology choice; however it is largely contingent on organisational leadership and appropriate institutional structures. While individual leadership can compensate for deployment barriers, we argue that a large scale roll out of rural electrification requires an alignment of economic incentives and institutional structures to implement, operate and maintain the scheme. This is demonstrated with the help of seven case studies of projects across north India.

Climate co-benefit policies for the Indian power sector: domestic drivers and North-South cooperation.

The Indian electricity sector offers the possibility for efficiency improvements across power generation, transmission and end-use of electricity. Three specific climate co-benefit policy options are identified which have significant potential to mitigate CO2 emissions in the Indian power sector: (1) the adoption of clean and efficient coal-based generation technology, (2) upgrading the low-tension (LT) distribution network to a high-voltage distribution system (HVDS), and (3) the adoption of efficient agricultural pump sets. Policy simulations suggest that an agricultural pump set replacement programme could reduce emissions by 5–30% per annum. In addition to improving technical efficiency, this could also help to improve economic efficiency if implemented jointly with electricity metering. The implementation requires the engagement of various stakeholders. The need for up-front capital requirements is a significant barrier for implementation but creates opportunities for international cooperation. Policy relevance: The study identifies three features of an effective approach to realize energy efficiency and lowcarbon opportunities. First, a comprehensive analysis can identify energy savings opportunities along the entire value chain. Second, technical linkages between the quality of the distribution network and the requirements of efficient pumps create benefits from the combined implementation of individual measures. Third, the sharing of energy savings between stakeholders can create political support for actions and can contribute to long-term objectives; for example the delivery of new pumps with electricity meters. This illustrates the benefit of an overall low-carbon development strategy capturing analytical, technological and political links. It allows for the identification of specific transitions and can be implemented with a set of policies and actions that are supported by domestic stakeholders, and can be enhanced if also supported by international support mechanisms.

Informal Markets for Electricity: Economics of Lighting for Hawkers in India

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the economics of supplying energy needs for illumination requirements by hawkers using alternatives like compact fluorescent lamps battery lamps, liquefied petroleum gas mantle lamps or supply from mini‐grids supported by local diesel generators. Further, the prevailing business models like the lamp rental and the mini‐grid models, which epitomise informal electricity markets, are also analysed.Design/methodology/approach – Three localities in Kanpur city are identified and data on techno‐economic characteristics of illumination options used by hawkers are collected. To compare the available options with varying capital life‐span, equivalent annual cost approach is utilized. This is used to calculate the levelised cost of 1 kiloWalthour energy used for providing illumination.Findings – The daily user cost of illumination ranges from Rs 6.1 to 17 (for four hours) across the four existing models studied in the paper. This translates to Rs 31.3 to 312.5 p...

Robust self scheduling framework for GenCos with portfolio optimization

This work presents a self scheduling problem of a thermal GenCo, trading electricity in a daily spot and subsequent adjustment market, to secure maximum feasible profit under the uncertainties of both the markets. The work proposes an Information Gap Decision Theory (IGDT) based framework that enables GenCo to make robust decisions for self-scheduling as well as trading portfolio selection in daily electricity markets. A realistic case study of PJM market is considered which provides a range of decisions about both unit commitment and allocation in both the markets for a rational GenCo, based on the trade-off existing between robustness and targeted profit.

Impact of short term electricity procurement of an open access consumer on Indian grid

Unscheduled Interchange (UI) mechanism has emerged as a powerful tool for maintaining grid discipline, penalizing the market players, causing deviations in the system. A buyer pays UI penalty for over-withdrawal of power more than the scheduled one based on the grid condition. Such buyers having demand fluctuations may end up paying UI penalty at the real time. This paper proposes a planning model for a large open access consumer in India, purchasing from bilateral contracts and multiple Day Ahead Markets (DAMs). The proposed model can shift consumers expected demand by accounting the UI deviations to minimize procurement cost. A small self generation unit and renewable purchase obligations are also considered. This work considers price uncertainty of both markets. The overall problem of cost and risk minimization is handled by mean variance approach. Results indicate that the consumer can plan demand scheduling for the planning period as well as can help in improving grid frequency at the real time.

A Policy for Improving Efficiency of Agriculture Pump Sets in India: Drivers, Barriers AndIndicators

The Indian power sector provides significant opportunities for reducing energy consumption by addressing existing inefficiencies of technical, operational and economic nature. Replacement of inefficient agricultural pump sets has been identified as one of the key policy initiatives, which to date, has been limited to a few pilot projects. The policy objectives are to: replace inefficient pump sets, improve distribution grids and provide metering. Adequate readdressing of economic inefficiencies, in terms of electricity pricing, remains a long-term objective. The scalability of such a policy proposal across the country offers many challenges. The paper identifies drivers and barriers for implementation of the policy, role of international cooperation and indicators for policy implementation with international cooperation.