Indian Energy Security

Stakeholders’ concern about how energy activities pollute the environment has increased.  Despite how popular the concept of environmental sustainability has become in developing countries, environmental pollution control measures have not successfully protected the environment. The study probed how the regulation of renewable energy could achieve a balance between economic needs and environmental concerns in Nigeria. The claim of the dissertation was that positioning Nigerian energy policies, laws, and regulations to encourage the use of renewable resources for the production of energy is essential for ensuring environmental sustainability. The specific objectives of the study included: showing that environmental sustainability could only be achieved by regulating the energy sector of countries; showing how laws regulating non-energy sectors could contribute to promoting environmental sustainability; and showing that technology-specific renewable energy support mechanisms or strategies have been most effective and efficient, and that production-based support mechanisms or strategies are better for the development of renewable energy projects than investment-based support systems
Compared to previous research, this study was novel because it evaluated specific measures by which law, in order to achieve environmental sustainability, could introduce renewable resources into the Nigerian energy stream predominantly dominated by crude oil. The study discussed how suitable these strategies are to the peculiar conditions of Nigeria.
The study was analytical, relying on laws, policies, statistics and facts; it was also comparative as it analysed the Nigerian situation vis-à-vis that of the fastest growing countries of the global south: China, India, and Brazil. To justify the claim, it relied on primary sources such as statutes and treaties, and secondary sources such as books and articles. 
The study discovered that Nigeria’s economy is crude oil dependent, making environmental pollution control difficult. Most energy laws in Nigeria do not sufficiently protect the environment, and this causes environmental problems.  The study concluded that, in order to achieve environmental sustainability, Nigeria should introduce renewable sources into her energy mix through strategies that discourage carbon energy.

The Caspian Project is a weekly digital magazine organized by the online analytical resource, Modern Diplomacy. Dr. Matthew Crosston is the Senior Editor of the project, which aims to acquaint people with this critically undervalued region of the world. The analyses go far beyond the standard issue of energy and encapsulates economics, politics, culture, religion, global affairs, conflict and peace.

The 10th edition of The Caspian Project is now out and it has several unique distinctions: it is the first edition with an editorial introduction and takes a more holistic and adversarial approach to investigating Iran's entrance into the global community given the recent nuclear accord. It is a great example of the diversity and discord that exists in global affairs, testifying to how there is no one single simple answer to such complex interactions within the international system.

There is a wide gap between India’s energy production and energy
consumption. Significantly the energy needs of the nation are met through conventional sources of energy. After the two oil shocks in 1970s, which caused energy crisis, the drive for renewable energy started in 1980s with setting up of institutions ranging from research and technology development to human resource development. Over the years India achieved significant progress in wind power in the world and in line to establish its strong hold in solar and biomass. This paper seeking to understand India's growth in renewable sector examines the institutional setup and the policy initiatives. It calls for the need to take steps to motivate the people towards renewable energy.

International borders are key to any cooperation dynamics in a sub-region deeply enmeshed in issues of national security. This sub-region, also 1 known as the South Asia Growth Quadrangle or Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) initiative in the eastern fringe of South Asia consisting of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and India's North East Region (NER) and West Bengal has remained a symbol of vibrant social, economic and cultural exchanges. This Eastern frontier has over 52 percent (7,917 km) of the total land borders of 15,106 of India, i.e., 4,096 km with Bangladesh; 633 km with Bhutan; 1,346 km with China; 1,643 km with Myanmar; and 199 km with Nepal. The varied nature of these borders (fenced, open, porous, barbed wirebased, and natural boundaries) and related orthodox national security-centric discourse and APRIL 2016 ISSUE NO. 137

India is highly dependent on oil imports, and approximately 70 per cent of India’s oil is imported. By 2020 India is expected to import 80 per cent of its energy needs. Expecting an exponential growth in its energy demands from an expanding economy India has been trying hard to secure hydrocarbon energy supplies. Amongst other options, India has been looking eastwards to the extensive natural- gas reserves of Bangladesh and Myanmar, which have become vital for India’s economic growth. The geographic proximity of Bangladesh and Myanmar to India makes the import of gas not just convenient, but an economically attractive proposition. In addition, the energy needs of eastern India, particularly the northeastern states, would be better served by gas from Myanmar and Bangladesh rather than from reserves in Iran and other distant fields.

The ultimate and main goal of countries in transition is the integration into the European Union and the integration of energy systems is a natural process. The first step is the restructuring of energy systems at the national level, by separating generation, transmission, distribution and supply, followed by the gradual introduction of market rules. After that, the goal is the integration of national energy in continental, first at the regional level. The Republic of Croatia has accepted all the energy requirements of the European Union and implemented them in practice, and the same is expected from the other candidate countries for membership. The energy sector is one of the most important parts of the national economy.

Increase in demand of Energy fuel in the market has alarmed the world to seek for other alternative in the energy sector. Use of Shale Gas as an Energy Fuel is another addendum in the energy market which will certainly abridge the demand of fuel crisis to a certain extent. Shale gas has the potential to turn the world’s energy industry on its head

India is an emerging economic power with 1.21 billion populous country after China. Being fourthlargest energy consumer in the world after USA, China and Russia India's energy demand continue torise. As vehicle ownership expands, petroleum demand in the transport sector is expected to grow in the coming years. While India's domestic energy resource base is substantial, the country relies on imports 1for a considerable amount of its energy use. India need urgent energy security for domestic and foreignpolicy reasons.

Energy has been universally recognized as one of the most important inputs for economic growth and human development. There is a strong two-way relationship between economic development and energy consumption. On one hand, growth of an economy, with its global competitiveness, hinges on the availability of cost-effective and environmentally benign energy sources, and on the other hand, the level of economic development has been observed to be reliant on the energy demand.

This article examines the evolution of the concept of energy security and its proper meaning with regard to India's energy sector. In the context of energy security, it aims to understand the impact of rising gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and change in oil prices on energy use; patterns in production , consumption and import of major sources of energy, such as crude oil, natural gas and coal in India; and the current structure of India's energy sector and the impact of regulatory policies thereon. The evidence shows that GDP per capita and energy use per capita have a bidirectional causal relationship and these two also cointegrate. There also exists a unidirectional causal relationship from oil prices to energy use. No causal relationship is observed between oil prices and GDP per capita. For all the sources of energy, the indigenous production capacity is unable to match the consumption requirement , and hence there is an increased dependence on the import of these sources. A major impediment in the achievement of energy security by India is the current regulatory and policy environment that fails to make the sector more attractive for private sector participation and investment.

Oil and natural gas are expected to remain India’s main source of energy in the coming two to three decades, and India needs to steadily increase and secure energy supplies for high economic growth. Due to the lack of significant domestic reserves of oil and natural gas, India has looked towards the geopolitically challenging Middle East region to fulfil its requirements throughout much of its independent history.

This document surveys India’s strengths and weaknesses in dealing with countries of this region. It presents a historical perspective about India’s relations with all the major oil and
natural gas rich countries in the Middle East. The aim of this publication is to present the Indian government with options for managing its energy driven relations with the Middle East.
Securing the supplies of oil and natural gas from the Middle East is and will continue to be closely linked with the military security of the region. In today’s security environment, energy
security and the military aspect of geopolitics are separated by a blurry line. Hence, India’s stand on energy dealings in the region will be both a cause and an effect of the geopolitics of
the Middle East. In the time to come, New Delhi’s influence in that part of the world will also undergo changes as global shifts in geopolitics and geoeconomics create a new world order.

This study has been organised as follows:
Chapter 1 assesses India’s global energy demands. Chapters 2 through 6 individually deal with the geopolitics of a sub-region in the Middle East and its impact on India’s energy situation. These five chapters are arranged in their order of importance for India’s energy security. Chapter 7 looks at the role of mid stream networks like sea lines and pipe lines in securing supplies from the Middle East. Chapter 8 sheds light on the
changing role of US as the main security provider in the region. Finally, Chapter 9 puts forward ways in which India can leverage its extremely unique position of ‘not being unfavourable’ to any of the disparate nation-­states in this energy-­rich region.

This commentary highlights the upsurge in ties between India and Saudi Arabia over recent years. At the heart of their ties is the trade in oil, which is expected to surge in the near future. This surge is a direct consequence of India's reticence about Iran's nuclear programme as well as their increasingly assertive Gulf policy.

Considering the large requirements of Energy by the growing Indian economy and impact on climate that it will have, it becomes imperative to think about decentralising energy for minimising impact on environment as well as improving cost efficiency of such projects. Focussing on small scale renewable energy generation options especially wind and hydropower, the paper comments on the advantages of such systems over large integrated systems from the point of view of environmental impact, cost effectiveness and management efficiency. Direct accountability of such systems to the community also helps to complete such projects on time reducing huge losses. Also it emphasises the help it provides to the grass-root democratic institutions of the country to have their contribution to the energy policy of the nation. Moreover, the "off-grid" nature of such systems decreases the technical difficulties in management and installation. The paper, taking certain case studies calls for a decentralised approach in energy planning and brings up certain ways through which the government can ensure that it provides impetus to such decentralised energy initiatives. It also suggests a holistic approach through which these systems can be managed by local communities and the ways through which the communities can be given incentives to implement the same.

IRRS) submitted a draft report to India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) reviewing the country's legal and regulatory regime for safety of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) and safety practices O and policies at plants across the country. A peer review service of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the IRRS conducts its reviews against globally accepted IAEA safety standards. The Indian Government had invited the IAEA to conduct the review, which included interviews and discussions with regulatory staff, site visits and inspections over a period of 12 days.

This was a paper presented by me at a Workshop titled  “An understanding of the appropriate Energy Mix for India” organised by the All India Peoples Science Network (AIPSN) at Kolkata, India, on 15 & 16, December, 2012. 

I explain how externalities (such as local pollution, global warming etc.,) do not get factored in the market determined prices of different energy forms, but need to be taken into account in devising a long term energy policy for the country through studies that would arrive at the true cost of energy.

The 2012 CAG report on coal block allocation in India as well as the 2014 Supreme Cout judgement (which led to a cancellation of 214 coal blocks) lead to a complete revamp of the system by which coal blocks were given out to prospective owners. To avoid the discrepancy cultivated by the allocation process and in the interest of transparency the NDA government in 2014 formulated an ordinance (which later became a bill) to auction these blocks. This paper seeks to provide a clear understanding of the process by which coal blocks are auctioned as well as some problems which might arise due to the current process.

This paper was prepared as input for suggestions when India's draft energy policy was put out for public comments - http://niti.gov.in/content/draft-national-energy-policy-public-comments 

Summary:
We appreciate the very considerable effort put in by NITI Aayog in getting inputs and preparing this report.  We feel some more inputs and some changes in direction would improve the NEP and bring it closer to societal needs.  We summarise our recommendations below:
1) Obtain inputs to assess true costs of different energy forms, including externalities not factored in the market costs.
2) Local habitat sustainability needs to be factored in as part of the key sustainability objective.
3) Need for social and environmental impact assessments of new technologies and new area involvements need to be emphasized.
4) Oncoming pressing Climate Change mitigation needs to be factored in, while determining energy path alternatives.
5) Caution to be exercised in the market efficiency assumption in meeting societal needs.
6) Methods of achieving equitable basic consumption access to energy need to be re-looked.

Despite government of India ambitious plans and policies in energy sector, it could not attract foreign investors. The reasons are obvious. Besides this, foreign investors are also keeping tab on India's growing energy demand. They wish to be part of the growing energy market in India. In this essay, i have attempted to analyze the underlying problems of India's energy sector and  the factors that induce foreign investors to invest in.