Main News
Ministry of Power issued five Year power vision document
The Ministry of Power (MoP) has issued a vision document which charts the way forward for India’s power sector. The document points out the problem areas and sets the timeline for every aspect of power generation, evacuation, and distribution.
The document, called “Vision 2024”, aims at developing a sustainable, viable, efficient, and competitive power sector to facilitate economic and social development. The report points out that the generation capacity in India has increased drastically in the past decade, but the sector is beset with falling plant load factor (PLF) and stressed assets.
Transmission is a huge problem for Indian renewable energy project developers. In many cases, renewable energy projects are ready to evacuate, but the evacuation infrastructure is not ready. In some other cases, due to the lack of proper transmission infrastructure, renewable energy has to be curtailed.
New industrial policy to be announced soon
The government will soon announce a new industrial policy aimed at promoting growth of industries and creation of jobs.
Addressing the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament, the President said work is underway in full earnest to transform India into a global manufacturing hub. "Keeping in view Industry 4.0, a new industrial policy will be announced shortly.
The new policy will replace the industrial policy of 1991 which was prepared in the backdrop of balance of payment crisis. This will be the third industrial policy after the ones released in 1956 and 1991.
The proposed policy aims at promoting emerging sectors and modernising existing industries. It will also look to reduce regulatory hurdles and encourage adoption of frontier technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence.
National Lab Directory launched by BIS – A major breakthrough for industry in the field of testing & measurement
Consumer Affairs Minister launched an online directory, which provides information about Indian standards of various products and testing infrastructure in the country for the benefit of various stakeholders such as start-ups.
There are estimated 10,000 labs across the country. Currently, about 4,500 labs owned by public and private academic institutions are listed on the online directory.
The link for the National Laboratoy Directory is www.labdirectory.bis.gov.in
India looking at newer EV battery technologies for strategic reasons
As part of India’s energy security plan, the government is exploring newer battery technologies such as polymer-based solid state batteries that may allow India to avoid dependence on lithium or cobalt imports.
This comes in the backdrop of Chinese state-owned firms securing lithium mine concessions in countries such as Bolivia, Argentina and Chile, which forms the so-called lithium triangle. The idea is to not allow India to fall in a vulnerable position with a likely threat of supply squeeze as has happened in the case of crude oil, with India being the world’s third largest oil importer.
Almost all electric vehicles in the country run on imported batteries, mostly from China. At present a lithium-ion battery accounts for 40% of the total cost of an electric vehicle. Lithium also has other uses such as in mobile phone batteries and solar panels.