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Why does India strive to become a gas based economy? List out the steps and programmes leveraged by our government in this regard.
Why does India strive to become a gas based economy? List out the steps and programmes leveraged by our government in this regard.
India’s Ambition:
- The current share of gas in India’s overall energy mix stands at 6% which is far below when compared to the global average of 25%.
- Therefore recently our Government has decided to escalate the share of gas in our primary energy mix to 15% by 2020 under the VISION 2030 programme
Why a Gas based economy?
- Very low emissions of particulate matter and other harmful gases
- The natural gas (methane) is 40% cheaper than LPG and 60% cheaper than gasoline and 45% cheaper than diesel.
- Presence of huge untapped natural gas sources in our country (ex: like cauvery basin)
- Could significantly preserve our foreign currency reserves (by choking gas imports)
- Moreover India’s energy consumption is growing at 4.2% per annum (which is the fastest among major economies of the world)
Steps and Programmes:
- Replacement of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) with the new innovative as well as encouraging Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP)
- Open Acreage Licensing (OAL) regime under HELP for faster coverage of the available geographical area.
- Establishment of National Data Repository (which pools data on the Indian sedimentary basins)
- The announcement of the ambitious One Nation, One Gas Grid programme which strives for the integration of the regional gas grids.
- Vigorous support to the establishment of various gas pipelines by GAIL and other entities.
- Active implementation of City Gas Distribution network under the leadership of Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB)
- Launch of National Biofuels policy in 2018
- Vigorous implementation of schemes like PM Ujjwala Yojana, Gobhardhan yojana.
- Interest Subvention Scheme for waste to energy biomethanation projects.
- The recent announcement of the National Hydrogen Mission.
- Gas pooling mechanism for supporting fertilizer companies which use natural gas.
- A government scheme is existing to make operational the stranded gas based power plants on R-LNG.
- SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation), an important initiative of our government, which aims to set up 5000 compressed biogas plants.
- Reserve Bank of India has included CBG projects under Priority Sector that will help in getting the loan for CBG plant.
- Government organises various investors meeting programmes like RE-Invest 2020.
Road Ahead:
- Considering the inbuilt merits associated with a gas based economy, it is pertinent for India to religiously implement the roadmap for achieving the VISION 2030 programme.
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