INDIA’S FOUR-PLANK ENERGY SECURITY STRATEGY

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Context:

Government’s Statement: India’s four-plank energy security strategy revolves around-

1. Diversifying Sources of Supplies,
2. A Renewed Focus on Finding and Producing More Oil and Gas Domestically,
3. Switching To Alternate Energy Sources and
4. Using Gas and green hydrogen as a pathway to the energy transition.

Strategy:

Diversifying Sources of Supplies

• India increased the number of its crude oil suppliers from 27 countries in 2006-07 to 39 in 2021-22, adding new suppliers like Columbia, Russia, Libya, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, etc.
• The government is supplementing supplies by setting up compressed biogas (CBG) plants that use animal and Agri Waste to produce gas.
• While the nation is dependent on imports to meet 85 percent of its oil needs and 50 percent of its natural gas requirements, India is mixing ethanol extracted from sugarcane and other Agri produce in petrol to cut overseas reliance.
  Ethanol blending has reached a national average of over 8 percent blending currently and is all set to increase to 20 percent by 2025.

Renewed Focus on Finding and Producing More Oil and Gas Domestically

• The Centre intends to increase India’s exploration acreage to 0.5 million sq. km. by 2025 and 1.0 million sq. km. by 2030.
• India is planning to double its oil refining capacity to 450-500 million tonnes by 2030.

Oil fields in Rajasthan state are emerging as major oil and gas producers. In 2021, Reliance BP also started production from the Krishna Godavari basin gas fields substantially enhancing indigenous gas production. India is making a big push for oil and gas exploration in Andaman deep water basin as well as North East Region.

• Increasing exploration at a break-neck speed is at the center of the government's plan to raise domestic production of oil and gas and cut imports at a time when high fuel prices are tormenting consumers.

Switching To Alternate Energy Sources

• India's power generation mix is rapidly shifting towards a more significant share of renewable energy. Today, India is the world's third largest producer of renewable energy, with 40% of its installed electricity capacitycoming from non-fossil fuel sources.

• The scope ranges from diversification of the nature of available energy sources (ie, bio-energy, nuclear, solar, hydro, wind, geothermal, and ocean energy), to prioritizing environmentally sustainable economic development.

Using Gas and green hydrogen as a pathway to the energy transition

• For making India a hub for the production of green hydrogen - the fuel of the future which has zero carbon footprint - an incentive of Rs 19,744 crore under the National Green Hydrogen Mission has been announced.
• India aspires to be a gas-based economy by increasing the share of natural gas in India’s energy mix from 6.3 % to 15% by 2030.
• India has a target of setting up 12 Commercial Scale 2G Bio-Ethanol Projects under the Pradhan Mantri Ji-VAN Yojana.
• India has a target of setting up 5000 Compressed Biogas (CBG) units under the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) Scheme.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/oil-gas/indias-energy-security-based-on-four-plank-strategy/articleshow/96881123.cms