Energy security is one of the key concerns for India policy-makers as it prepares to embark on the 12th five-year plan period. The costs of fossil fuels – i.e. coal, natural gas, and oil – that currently meet the majority of Indian energy demand are increasing steadily exacerbating India’s trade deficit. Various recent estimates of domestic clean energy potential (e.g. wind 500-2000 GW and solar >10,000 GW) in India indicate that India can be entirely self-sufficient. Even though coal is abundantly available in India – its recovery for use in energy generation has been extremely problematic in recent times leading to a severe shortage. In contrast, wind power plants, the cost of which is comparable to that of imported coal-based thermal power plants (~Rs.3.5-5/kWh), can be deployed relatively more rapidly to add capacity – even under conservative assumptions of land availability – up to 500 GW (or 2.5 times current total generation!). In this presentation, we present results of recent analysis where clean energy alternatives are able to meet India’s energy needs by substituting for increasingly imported and expensive fossil fuels at minimal incremental cost. We shall describe the various steps policy-makers and stakeholders need to take to encourage the use of clean energy alternatives and also high-light some of the recent activities of our team.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is a member of the national laboratory system supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and is managed by the University of California. Thirteen scientists associated with Berkeley Lab have won the Nobel Prize. Regulatory Assistance Project is a global, non-profit team of experts – primarily, former energy regulators in the US – focused on the long-term economic and environmental sustainability of the power and natural gas sectors, providing technical and policy assistance to policymakers and regulators on a broad range of energy and environmental issues.
Speaker’s Biography: Mr. Bharvirkar is a Senior Energy Consultant with Itron’s Consulting and Analysis group. Mr. Bharvirkar has conducted research and policy analysis on both supply and demand sides of the electricity sector. At Itron, Mr. Bharvirkar has been primarily involved in energy efficiency and demand response potential studies for California and Florida, and EM&V policy analysis for the National Action Plan on Energy Efficiency. Mr. Bharvirkar provides technical assistance on a wide range of power sector topics including energy efficiency, renewable energy, and others to state and federal policymakers in India. Mr. Bharvirkar has also conducted several workshops on energy efficiency for staff from Indian regulatory commissions and utilities.
Prior to joining Itron, Mr. Bharvirkar worked for four years at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley CA, and three years at Resources for the Future (RFF) in Washington D.C. Mr. Bharvirkar holds a B.Tech. in Civil Engineering (Indian Institute of Technology Bombay), M.S. in Environmental Engineering (North Carolina State University), and MPP in Public Policy (University of California at Berkeley).
