The project seeks to develop a collective vision for a policy to promote a more secure energy future for India through a multi-stakeholder dialogue process. The research questions posed by the project revolve around the nature and extent of energy security and the challenges and opportunities that stem from it.
The project adopts a research process that involves the following.
Identification of key concerns in the three focus areas of consumption,
production, and geopolitics and trade, addressing how related
risks may be mitigated, and identifying possible barriers to policy
and technology solutions. This draws on the existing work and
entails some new analysis.
Stakeholder
engagements in the form of dialogues and collaborative action
research (details on stakeholder engagement below). This is a
very important component of the project, which seeks to bridge
the gap within and between knowledge and action.
Model-based
assessments that entail developing energy outlooks for India into
the future (up to the year 2030), based on scenarios that outline
possible ways in which critical international and India-specific
parameters are likely to unfold.
Drawing on these three closely interlinked streams of activities, the project will outline an energy security policy for the country, which looks into pricing and other policy matters, distributional aspects, and institutional preparedness.
The research activities as well as the stakeholder engagements are constructed around three inter-related modules—sustainable energy consumption, sustainable energy production, and geopolitics and trade (Figure 1).
Sustainable production refers to the development of an energy production paradigm that takes into account economic and environmental costs, technological requirements, and socio-political imperatives.
Sustainable consumption implies patterns of energy consumption that reinforce the principle of sustainability through an emphasis on conserving energy, increasing energy efficiency, reducing the ecological footprint of human activities, and adopting greener lifestyles.
Geopolitics and trade involve addressing vulnerabilities associated with reliance on a small number of energy exporters, and energy risks emanating from inter-state rivalry, violent conflict, terrorism, piracy, and volatile energy markets.
Each of these modules, albeit inter-linked,
covers a different set of issues, and deals with different
challenges. Yet, for all of them, a common thread of questions
can be identified as follows.
What
are the key issues posing a threat to one or more of the
requirements for energy security (or sustainability)?
What
are the policy options that can be used to address these
concerns?
What
are the barriers to implementing these solutions and how
can they be removed?
Are
these solutions worth it? That is, taking into account all
the various criteria for judgment, do these solutions seem
to deliver net benefits?
Oil
vulnerability index of oil-importing countries
Eshita Gupta
Energy policy, Volume 36, Issue 3, March 2008, Pages 1195-1211
Energy
and Poverty in India
Eshita Gupta and Anant Sudarshan
India’s Energy Security, edited by Ligia Noronha and Anant
Sudarshan (Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series)
Trading
in the world energy market
Nitya Nanda
India’s Energy Security, edited by Ligia Noronha and Anant
Sudarshan (Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series)
The
India - Africa energy partnership: prospects and challenges
Devika Sharma
Energy Security Insights, Volume 2 Issue 3, October 2007
Do
India’s overseas energy equity investments add to its energy
security?
Deepti Mahajan and Ruchika Chawla
Energy Security Insights, Volume 2 Issue 3, October 2007
Energy
security and climate change: why we should be concerned with converging
lifestyles
Mitali Das Gupta
Energy Security Insights, Volume 2 Issue 4, February 2008
Energising India-Africa
Ties: The Energy Sector And Beyond
Devika Sharma and Deepti Mahajan
South African Journal of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper examines the main drivers behind the growing
engagement between India and Africa in the energy sector.
Although India lacks a clearly defined energy policy vis-à-vis
Africa, the broad themes that inform India’s energy
interests in Africa can be discerned. This exercise calls
for an analysis that goes beyond the energy sector. A broad-based,
holistic energy policy that is cognisant of the multiple
factors, constraints and challenges acting upon any energy
importing country is the most fundamental way of enhancing
a country’s future energy security. To this end therefore,
we identify three levels at which India’s energy policy
vis-à-vis Africa can be located, one, the business/trade
sector; two, in the foreign policy/diplomacy arena; and
three, at the geopolitical level.
Engaging
the Asian giants in the energy and climate debate
Atul Kumar and Vivek Kumar
Energy Security Insights
Joint
bidding for overseas oilfield stakes: analytical views
Saptarshi Mukherjee
Energy Security Insights
Joint
strategic oil stocks in Asia: ananalysis
Saptarshi Mukherjee
Energy Security Insights
1. Overseas
equity energy investments and India’s energy security
2. Accelerating
clean coal technologies for power generation in India: what does
it take?
3. To
what extent can we use trade and investment linkages to secure
energy resources effectively?
4. Biofuels
and energy security
5. Coal
for India’s energy security: where are we heading?
6. Green
building design: potential for sustainable energy consumption
7. Rural
electricity access and distributed generation
8. Accelerating
the deployment of smart mini-grids in India
9. Greening
tourism infrastructure
10. How
can India minimize supply risks for imported oil and natural gas?
11. Nuclear energy:
challenges and possibilities
1. Energy
and Climate
2. Lifestyles,
Energy Security, and Climate