Question

Access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy is the sine qua non to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Comment on the progress made in India in this regard.

Answer 1

Approach:

1. In Intro part discuss about Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7.
2. In body part discuss about progress made by India in achieving the goal of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7.
3. Discuss the issues in implementing these SDG goals 7.
4. Provide appropriate conclusion.

Affordable and reliable energy is one of the fundamental necessities for development. Public health burden, loss of productivity and efficiency can be improved with access to modern energy. India is home to the maximum population with lack of electricity & clean cooking energy. In such cases access to affordable energy is of Prime Importance for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7 i.e Access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy.

Progress made by India in achieving the SDGs 7:
1. For improving the access of energy:

• Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) : Under this scheme , India has achieved the goal of electrification of every village.
• In similar direction, SAUBHAGYA scheme was launched for electrification of every household.
• For improving the access of electricity many schemes like One Grid One Nation, Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) and UDAY schemes was launched.

2. For sustainable energy:

• For improving energy efficiency Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LED for All (UJALA)
• Was launched. Under the scheme,31.68 crore LED bulbs distributed under UJALA scheme resulting in estimated cost savings of INR 16,457 crore per year, estimated energy savings of 41.14 billion kWh per year with avoided peak demand of 8,237 MW and GHG emission reduction of 33.32 million t CO2 per year.
• The Chiller Star Labelling Program has been launched by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) to encourage the deployment of Energy Efficient chiller systems. The program envisages providing star rating in terms of its energy performance.
• Building Energy Efficiency : Energy Conservation Guidelines launched for large scale industries to promote equipment efficiency by reducing energy consumption with the help of standardizing the energy performance values of various energy-consuming equipment and systems deployed for the manufacturing process

3. For Improving the production of Modern energy:
India has set the target of 175 GW of renewable energy production by 2022.In this direction,India has increased the installed solar capacity to The country's solar installed capacity reached 29.41 GW as of 31 May 2019 Overall, the country is estimated to add nearly 16 GW of clean energy capacity in 2019, driven by large-scale solar projects.The present wind power installed capacity in the country is around 32.75 GW.

Issues in achieving the SDG 7:
India is facing many problems in the solar sector like imposing various taxes & levies on solar products, the cancellation of tenders and tariff renegotiations. These problems are hindering the goal of 100 GW of installed solar power capacity by 2022.
There are many issues in the Electricity sector like the poor financial condition of the State distribution Company. So it is difficult to achieve the goal of universal household electrification (in both rural and urban areas) by providing last mile connectivity.

Way Forward:
For solving the issues of the energy sector it is desirable for proper implementation of different government schemes like UDAY, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and SAUBHAGYA scheme to achieve the goal of universal household electrification. Similarly India should use the platform of International Solar alliance to improve the solar capacity of the country. There is also a requirement for diversification of the energy basket of the country focusing on renewable and non-conventional energy.