Once the Parliament approves the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Union government plans to issue administrative orders to implement it.
The bill is listed among the government business expected to be taken up by the Lok Sabha, according to the information available on the Parliament website.
The bill seeks to provide a regulatory framework for carbon trading in India, encouraging renewables consumption and effectively implementing and enforcing the Energy Conservation Act.
These enabling provisions are expected to help India meet its climate goals, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledging at the COP26 summit to cut India’s total projected carbon emission by 1 billion tonnes and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.
India’s electricity demand has also increased after dropping during the second covid wave last year.
“We are introducing a provision for making green hydrogen consumption mandatory and also other sources of renewable energy. This will help towards India’s energy transition plan, and through this, the central government will be authorized to make consumption of such non-fossil fuels mandatory, and after that, they can issue administrative orders to implement it," one of the two government officials cited above said, requesting anonymity.
With the government promoting emission-free green hydrogen, several Indian companies, including Reliance Industries, Adani Group, ACME Group and Greenko Group, have shown interest in the space.
Green hydrogen, produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolyzers, can be a game-changer for the country’s energy security.
India imports 85% of its oil and 53% of its gas requirements. The electrolyzers are powered by energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar.
“An enabling provision will also be made for carbon trading mechanism. Currently, no such provision is in the Act. Under this, if you are saving energy, you can sell the carbon credit that you have earned. There are a lot of agencies interested in carbon financing wherein the carbon emission saved can be traded," said the first official cited above.
Queries emailed to a spokesperson for the Union power ministry on Friday evening remained unanswered till press time.
As part of its strategy to promote green energy, the Union power ministry earlier proposed a minimum share of renewable energy in the overall consumption by an industrial unit or an establishment.
According to the Central Electricity Authority, by 2030, the country’s power requirement would be 817 gigawatts (GW), more than half of which would be clean energy.
“Amid 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 the 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.," a 30 October statement from the Union power ministry said.
At the COP-26 summit, India announced plans to increase non-fossil fuel power generation capacity to 500GW by 2030.
Mint earlier reported about the government’s Vision 2047, which also aims to drive the growth of green jobs and enable a wider socio-economic transformation.
“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 certificates," the statement said. To encourage the production of green hydrogen, the government has allowed concessional green electricity, waiver of inter-state transmission charges, land at renewable energy parks and mega manufacturing zones for promoting green hydrogen and green ammonia.
