After being termed as ‘the bill for the future’ by the Power Minister R K Singh, the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2022 has finally seen the light of the day.
It is being termed as a breakthrough in promoting the use of alternatives to fossil fuels like ethanol, green hydrogen, green ammonia or biomass and helping India in achieving its internationally-professed targets for renewable energy and decarbonization of its economy.
The country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) were recently updated at Glasgow conference by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, aiming to slash the emissions intensity of the GDP by nearly 45 per cent till 2030, in comparison to the 2005 levels, and source about 50 per cent of the domestic energy needs (anticipated to grow by 2030) from just cleaner renewable fuels.
The option to avail this renewable energy generation by common man may be done either directly from a renewable energy source or rather indirectly through a power grid.
As per the statement made while discussing the bill in Lok Sabha: “With the passage of time, and in the context of the energy transition with special focus on the promotion of new and renewable energy and National Green Hydrogen Mission, a need has arisen to further amend the said Act to facilitate the achievement of ‘Panchamrit‘ as five nectar elements presented by India in Conference of Parties -26 in Glasgow last year”.
Importance of the Amendment made:
The changes made to the original act formulated in 2001 make another strive to reduce the country’s strong and resilient dependence on fossil fuel energy.
It may also prepare the ground for strengthening of India’s Carbon market that can channelize trade related aspects of Renewable energy though only internally and cannot be exported, boost its country-wide adoption and efficiency.
Under these broad objectives, the bill has brought even the large residential buildings (with a connection load of over 100 kWs or a consistent demand of 15 kilovolt-amperes or more) under the ambit of energy conservation regime to be regulated via conservation standards in order to promote sustainable habitats.
Earlier, it only included large industries and allied buildings.
The penalty provisions have been altered and there is a potential increase registered in the number of members in BEE’s governing council that was set up under the same act constituted in 2001.
BEE is authorized to lay down certain qualifications needed for energy auditing and monitoring of power consumption related to various industries and sectors.
In addition to which the energy savings certificates are issued by the government for most efficient while the least efficient and most wasteful consumers or even the vehicles or industrial unit failing to comply with optimum fuel consumption norms, get penalized.
Alongside the above, the bill talks of energy efficiency for appliances as well as industrial equipment.
Grievances with ironic support of the amendment:
Various sections of the opposition have supported the Bill, but incoming questions and amendments suggested by them have also raised several eyebrows.
The Nationalist Congress Party leader Supriya Sule though extending support to the amendment asked about the government’s future policy regarding coal in comparison to the renewables keeping in view the Coal Ministry’s information to Parliament consisting of increased mining instances and coal production.
As per the Ministry of coal, it has been claimed that an all-India exploration and Production of coal in the fiscal year 2021-22 has been around 778.19 MT (Provisional) registering an increase of 8.67 percent.
It is to note that while we move towards renewables and away from fossil fuels, at least in the short run we can begin to focus on increasing efficiency in coal-based plants.
While many others demanded the carbon trading framework to work under a regulatory regime if the country wants to cap the emissions considerably.
Several other important attempts in the bill for energy conservation at large include the centre’s insistence of State Governments to keep lower load thresholds (i.e. the amount of electricity flowing in the grid at any given time) and allowing the State level Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) to function smoothly without interference.
Steps in action so far:
Biomass cofiring i.e., burning an appropriate amount of biomass around 5-7 percent along with coal is already being implemented in the thermal power plants.
In order to promote domestically-produced ethanol blending of fuels in India, an additional excise duty of INR 2 per a litre has been levied in case of unblended fuel.
‘Green Bonds’ have been widely introduced as fixed-income financial instruments to raise capital for projects yielding positive ecological effects.