RK Singh, Minister of Power (File image)
Power Minister RK Singh has underscored the efforts to ensure India’s energy security is not compromised even with all global supply chain and price disruptions.
Speaking exclusively to Moneycontrol at Davos, the minister added that many countries are now seeking alliance with India to be part of its One World One Grid initiative, including UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The minister also spoke on the crisis that recently unfolded in Joshimath, and said the problem was identified way back in the 70s when a top panel of experts reported that the settlement has come up in an unplanned manner. Responding to the uproar over NPTC’s project near the region, Minister RK Singh said the project came up only in 2009, while the issues have been plaguing the region for many decades.
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Edited excerpts from the interaction:
As an industrialist pointed out, India is everywhere in Davos. So, tell us about India’s plans this year at the WEF. What’s the India pitch going to be?
It’s not only the physical presence which you see. India has now occupied a very high position in the minds of the world because of what we have achieved. They are looking to invest in India. They see India as a growth story — a positive story in a world which has seen a lot of crisis.
India has been the shining star in a number of fields. One, of course, is my field – energy. We have been the brightest star in energy transition – we have the fastest rate of energy transition. In fact, we are the only country whose energy transition actions are concerned with the sub two degree rise in global temperature. Whatever we pledged in COP21, we achieved nine years in advance. We have emerged as the most attractive destination for investment in renewables in the world. And our renewable energy capacity has grown to one of the largest in the world. Further, our green hydrogen and ammonia capacity are also going to be one of the largest in the world.
So, the world is talking about energy transition, the world is talking about climate action. But we have done it. And we are also emerging exporters for you know for (solar) modules. We were importers, now we are exporters.
We are also emerging as one of the biggest manufacturing centres for green hydrogen and green ammonia. And that again is something which will be on a scale which no other country will be able to match. Already we have manufacturing plants for 32 million tons of green ammonia. Many of my companies have already tied up orders in Germany and Japan, because we are going to make it first and we are the most competitive because our renewable energy costs are the least.
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You see, we are one major economy in which the energy availability did not get compromised, and in which the energy prices remained stable. In all other developed countries, energy prices went up by three or four times, and there were disruptions, but not in our country.
We are one country which achieved universal access in the shortest possible time frame. So in energy we have done we have really done something.
And now we also have the ‘One Sun, One World, One Grid’ where we have different countries wanting to get connected. UAE has been in discussion with us. They want to get interconnected with our grid. Saudi Arabia wants to get interconnected with us.
Can you also give us an update on the Electricity Amendment Bill? When is it likely to be passed?
The Electricity Amendment Bill is with the parliamentary standing committee. So hopefully they should be able to complete their hearings and as soon as it is completed, it will be passed.
In the meantime we passed the Energy Conservation Act Amendment Bill and that has put in place a system, you know the market for carbon credits and the whole world is looking towards that.
The Power Ministry’s scheme to liquidate dues that distribution companies owe generation companies has been working so far. So to what extent do you think they will be able to reduce the overdue in FY23 and FY24?
Not only working, it is working very well. Already they have reduced outstanding by almost Rs 30,000-35,000 crore. So, by FY23-24, I think they will wipe out the bulk of the outstanding. I won’t give you a number but I think we’ll wipe out a large proportion of that.
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The Indian power sector is no longer the old power sector. The availability of energy has gone up. People get power for 23 hours in the villages and now the system has become viable.
A short term power crisis has been a recurring problem for the last few years. Your ministry moved very fast in the summer to fix this problem. So, are you confident…
No crisis has happened. What has happened is that our demand has grown by 10.6 percent, in the past two months it grew by 12.50 percent, and we met that demand. That’s what happened.
The sinking of Joshimath has prompted concerns on hydropower projects in the hills. So, will the Ministry review hydropower projects that are coming up?
No, no.
The problem in Joshimath was detected in 1975. In 1976 a committee of top geologists was set up, and that committee reported that a town had come up unplanned on land which is actually part of a landslide. And below the rocks were not solid but gravel. They do not have sewage and all that drainage and sewage is seeping into the ground and loosening the rocks and therefore you have cracks. This is in ‘76, mind you.
Thereafter, again in 2010, a committee was set up and they also said the same thing. In ’22 another committee, also said the same thing. The problem is that Joshimath is built on part of an old landslide. This is a very old landslide and the rocks below it are not solid. They are individual rocks and that’s the problem.
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So, NTPC project is functioning since in 2009. It is 15 km away from Joshimath and there are numerous villages between the two spots. In fact, there is a village right above the NTPC project, where nothing happened.
So, nothing happened to the village nearby and the villages above the project, and nothing happened to all the villages in that 15 km stretch. So you think any impact skipped all those villages and attacked Joshimath? The problem is the Joshimath land.
Watch the full interaction here
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