Cement Energy and Environment

Today if coal prices suddenly start dropping, renewables lose. Who is going to invest in renewables where the costs are going to be far higher? So you're knocking renewables out of the market. Today we talk the other way --that if you want renewables to come in, you should be taxing conventional energy like coal. So raise prices. Yes, resources are expensive and energy is expensive. And we need to use less of it, use it more efficiently and we will probably do it when we pay more of it. On the political front, the Narendra Modi government, before the next election comes in 2019, will try very hard to separate the grid for commercial use and domestic use. India will aim to have 100 per cent electricity connections in homes. So do you think it is a feasible target as it has happened in Gujarat? See, separation is essential also for other reasons --for differential pricing , etc. One thing we must understand that in India most power pricing policy is actually distorted. Domestic consumers pay less and industrial commercial consumers pay more. Globally it is the exact opposite. You want to make India a manufacturing hub. How are you going to compete with people manufacturing abroad? Find out the prices in global markets. Your entire dream of turning India into a manufacturing hub with these kinds of distorted pricing policies, will not go very far. Is it possible for Modi to go to the next polls giving maximum number of houses power through a separate grid? Is that an achievable goal? First of all, is electricity going to be available? Are people going to be on the grid across the country? Some parts of the country are so distant that they are better of not being on the grid. For them it is going to be very expensive. And it might be cheaper for them to stick to renewable, biomass energy. So there are different models which can be proposed and which I'm sure any rational government would think of optimising the cost when you're supplying modern electricity and fuels to the bulk of the population. The statement should be written in context of the larger picture. Do you think the political target is achievable on this issue? If you're talking about the grid then it is not possible. If you want to get the grid into the remotest village then it is a tall order and it is not even a wise decision. And when they say getting grid into every household, to every person's house, there are limitations to it. And those limitations, within the political system, should limit them. In balance, as of today, the way things stand on the issue of coal mining, the demand of power and the issue of tariffs for the consumer, are you optimistic about India's coal scene? No, I'm not. Why? We have a long way to go and it is a tough task and there are strong legacy issues. And till those legacy issues are hit head on , these are issues where jugaad is not going to take you very far. You are stuck with certain cancelled coal blocks which have come through the Supreme Court, and you have the coal nationalisation act, you bring in an ordinance and then you continue with the system of allocating coal to the end-users. This is all changing through jugaad, move this here, push this out of the way. So we need to use a lot of rethinking on how we envision our grid, we should be maybe go in for distributed power generation using various other kinds of fuels. We should be going in for reforms that allow peak time tariffs, so that at peak times you have higher rates of tariffs, that conserve energy which also make sure that alternate fiJels like natural gas and all can kick into the grid at the right time. So the weight is taken off coal which you do not have enough of at the moment. A lot of balancing needs to be done. So unless we take a comprehensive view of the entire energy sector, this piecemeal reform, doesn't take you very far. Courtesy: Rediff.com, New Delhi MERCHANT POWER PLANTS Merchant power plants differ from traditional rate-based power plants as to: 1) how they are financed , and 2) where they sell the electricity they generate. 27