CEL214 | Energy Law And Policy In India

Goal 7 of Sustainable Development Goals is ‘Affordable and Clean Energy’ – ensure access to Affordable, Reliable, Sustainable and Modern Energy for All. India is amongst the first country in the world to have a separate Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in 2006. The growth of the Power Sector in India is unprecedented. The dominance by the erstwhile central and state government enterprises has seen a decline and there is an increasing upscale of private participation in the various tenets of activities, especially in the Generation Companies and Distribution Companies. Due credit for such growth of privatisation is to the regulatory framework that has made it convenient as they are not merely diversified but also evolved overtime. However, the practices of contracting and acquiring interests in the power sector, requires deliberation and discussion.

Sailing through, what we now call, as the Energy Transition phase, the mode and source of generating electricity is changing rapidly, from largely conventional, to mostly renewable. The renewable sector requires investment over the period of the next decade, to achieve the target of the Indian economy becoming a USD 5 trillion economy. However, several challenges and hurdles remain in the development and growth of this sector, which make the question of achieving energy security, a very recurring one. Numerous cases have occurred in the recent past, where the Public Discoms who are one of the largest off-takers for the renewable energy sector have sought to repudiate or renegotiate Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) at pre-decided tariffs with independent power producers. While there have been diverse deliberations on policy matters, comparatively significant efforts have been directed towards strengthening of the legal, regulatory and institutional framework. Many areas within clean energy sector have seen turbulence, yet potentially record-breaking growth, including Hydropower Industry. and the least growth in the past decade has been the hydropower industry. Another important issue which arises but as the effects of the same are not quite visible now, it manages to escape the eye is that of the piling up of Environmental Costs of the renewable energy projects.