EDITORIALS & ARTICLES

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:
  1. 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%. 
  2. 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?
  1. Very low emissions of particulate matter and other harmful gases
  2. The natural gas (methane) is 40% cheaper than LPG and 60% cheaper than gasoline and 45% cheaper than diesel.
  3. Presence of huge untapped natural gas sources in our country (ex: like cauvery basin)
  4. Could significantly preserve our foreign currency reserves (by choking gas imports)
  5. 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:
  1. Replacement of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) with the new innovative as well as encouraging Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP)
  2. Open Acreage Licensing (OAL) regime under HELP for faster coverage of the available geographical area.
  3. Establishment of National Data Repository (which pools data on the Indian sedimentary basins)
  4. The announcement of the ambitious One Nation, One Gas Grid programme which strives for the integration of the regional gas grids.
  5. Vigorous support to the establishment of various gas pipelines by GAIL and other entities.
  6. Active implementation of City Gas Distribution network under the leadership of Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB)
  7. Launch of National Biofuels policy in 2018
  8. Vigorous implementation of schemes like PM Ujjwala Yojana, Gobhardhan yojana.
  9. Interest Subvention Scheme for waste to energy biomethanation projects.
  10. The recent announcement of the National Hydrogen Mission.
  11. Gas pooling mechanism for supporting fertilizer companies which use natural gas.
  12. A government scheme is existing to make operational the stranded gas based power plants on R-LNG.
  13. SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation), an important initiative of our government, which aims to set up 5000 compressed biogas plants.
  14. Reserve Bank of India has included CBG projects under Priority Sector that will help in getting the loan for CBG plant.
  15. 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.
 






POSTED ON 31-10-2021 BY ADMIN
Next previous