Under direction of Union Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister the Central Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power has prepared the guideline for the Cyber Security in Power sector, and it has been released. The guideline lays down required actions for cyber security preparedness across various utilities in power sector to raise the level of cyber security preparedness for power sector. It lays down a cyber assurance framework, the strengthens the regulatory framework, puts in place mechanisms for security threat early warning, vulnerability management and response to security threats, securing remote operations and services, protection and resilience of critical information infrastructure, reducing cyber supply chain risks, encouraging use of open standards, promotion of research and development in cyber security, human resource development in the domain of Cyber Security, Developing effective public private partnerships and information sharing and cooperation.

Amidst the growing energy needs and changing global climate landscape, the Government of India has identified new areas to achieve higher levels of penetration of Renewable energy by proposing certain Amendments to Energy Conservation Act, 2001. The objective will be to enhance demand for renewable energy at the end- use sectors such as Industry, buildings, transport etc. Ministry of Power has prepared amendments, after consultations with stakeholders. The proposal includes defining minimum share of renewable energy in the overall consumption by the industrial units or any establishment. There will be provision to incentivize efforts on using clean energy sources by means of carbon saving certificate.

• Revised Policy for Biomass Utilization Power Generation through Co-firing in Coal based Power Plants Read more>>

• Inviting Suggestions regarding Formulation of Comprehensive Policy Framework and Recommend other interventions to promote Energy Storage in Power Sector  Read more>>

• Seeking comments on Draft Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Amendment Rules, 2021 Read more>>

• Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) to provide for Purchase Preference (linked with local content) in respect of Power Sector. Read more>>

Scheme for Flexibility in Generation and Scheduling of Thermal/Hydro Power Stations through bundling with Renewable Energy and Storage Power. Read more>>

India is proposing tweaks in its laws to make it mandatory for industrial units to use a minimum share of green energy in overall electricity consumption as the country seeks to move away from fossil fuels and fight climate change. Proposed amendments will facilitate the development of a carbon market in India besides prescribing a minimum consumption of renewable energy for industrial units, the government said in a statement Saturday. “The objective will be to enhance demand for renewable energy at the end-use sectors such as industry, buildings, transport,” and others, India’s ministry of power said in the statement, add adding that this may also facilitate the use of “green hydrogen” as an alternate to the existing fossil fuels.  Carbon saving certificates will also be given to spur companies toward clean energy sources. The statement did not specify the minimum use percentage that the government is planning to mandate.

• Disposal of e-waste – defunct/obsolete computer hardware, peripherals and office equipment 

Regulation on the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) under Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. 

India and the European Union have vowed to scale up cooperation in areas of clean energy with a focus on offshore wind, green hydrogen, and solar power besides deciding to encourage investments in the field of energy efficiency. Various aspects of deepening clean energy cooperation were discussed at a meeting of the India-EU Energy Panel. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the panel agreed on a detailed work programme until 2023 to implement clean energy and climate partnership that was agreed in 2016. Some of the areas identified for cooperation included ensuring nearly zero energy buildings and renewable energy sources, including solar and offshore wind.

The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has extended the timeline for the implementation of Smart Cities Mission to June 2023 due to the Covid pandemic and other reasons, a senior official said on Thursday. According to an earlier deadline, the cities were expected to complete their projects within five years of being selected under the Smart Cities Mission. The official said all the 100 smart cities selected under the mission will now have to complete their projects by June 2023. The official said all the 100 smart cities selected under the mission will now have to complete their projects by June 2023.  Hundred smart cities had been selected through four rounds of competition from January 2016 to June 2018. The ministry had launched the Smart Cities Mission on 25 June 2015.

Four greenfield industrial cities or nodes are being developed in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), and major trunk infrastructure works have been completed there, the commerce and industry said. In these cities, 138 plots (754 acres) have been allotted to companies with investment to the tune of more than Rs 16,750 crore, it said in a statement. Anchor investors in these cities/nodes include companies like HYOSUNG (South Korea), NLMK (Russia), HAIER (China), TATA Chemicals and AMUL.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee won the Smart Move Innovative Urban Mobility Challenge held on November 8 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in collaboration with Smart Cities Mission, National Institute of Urban Affairs and GIZ India. The team from IIT Roorkee developed an interactive passenger information system to predict the crowding levels in the public transit system.

The union authorities’ s efforts to hurry up electric vehicle adoption within the nation will get an enormous push with the standardization of charging infrastructure which is scheduled to be launched by the top of 2022. The unbiased organization Automotive Research Foundation of India (ARAI), Pune, is engaged on this. “For quick charging, the prototype is prepared and by December 2022, we’ll carry this to the market. However, we hope this may be achieved even earlier than that,” Minister for Heavy Industries, stated. He invited the industry stakeholders and policymakers from the important thing states to push electrical automobile adoption within the quick lane.