Hydrocarbon fuel exploration and exploitation have been far from satisfactory. Policies have changed continuously over the last 3 decades. It seems to be oscillating from total state control to a proposed stage of decontrol. The energy security of the country is strongly linked to the strategic security of the country. This aspect does not seem to have figured in the latest deliberations on policy of the government.

The mess created by the appropriation of surplus of the Oil Pool Account has landed the country in a piquant situation today. Raising prices of POL products is a knee-jerk reaction - it is not a long-term solution. So far, neither the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, nor the Finance Ministry has put any effort to arrive at a long-term solution.

• Fossil Fuels

Thermal power plants have been allowed to be set up in various parts of the country. Instead of using lignite and low grade coal firing technologies (since these are abundant in India), plants are coming up based on imported coal and liquid fuels like LNG and Naphtha. These decisions are improper as they are going to push the country towards import dependence. No doubt, India witnessed a phenomenal growth in Power Sector since independence. Starting from the base of 1362 MW in 1947, the current installed capacity is approximately 86000 MW - ninth biggest electrical system in the world (i.e. after America, Russia, Japan, China, Germany, Canada, France and Indonesia).

Stupendous progress have been achieved in the field of augmentation of transmission capacity, rural electrification, irrigation pump set energisation etc. It has achieved 86% village electrification with more than 10 million irrigation pump set energisation. Most of such programmes are linked with state policy and aimed at development of economically weaker section. Since last four and a half decades State Electricity Boards acted as the state instruments for implementing these programmes.

An investor bias New Power Policy was announced in 1991 to attract foreign capital. Much have been deliberated on "Independent Power Project - IPP". The experience, however, speaks for a different story and has shown marginal progress in foreign investments and private sector generation. The eighth plan, against a target of 30,800 MW achieved an addition of nearly 18000 MW.

The growth in Indian Power Sector was loftsided and got unscientifically bias towards addition of thermal capacity. As a result of which the power system is constrained to be operated under service limitations.

• Hydel

Hydel plants are now proposed to be privatised. There are inherent problems in this proposition. River waters are a national resource. A private hydel plant would tend to generate maximum amount of power by running the plant as long as the necessary head is available at the intake. This would take out the convenience of peak load balancing. Also, it would be disastrous from the points of water conservation for irrigation and flood control

This proposed policy, hence, needs to be reviewed. Moreover, hydro-thermal mix is not uniform in the country. Regionally, the hydro share varies widely - from 19 per cent in the eastern region to 66 per cent in the southern region.

The share of hydro power in the overall mix of generation unfortunately has been going down for the last two decades or so owing to a variety of reasons. In the eastern and western region it has been getting disturbingly low. Inspite of the repeated emphasis laid on improving the hydro thermal mix to a desirable level of 40 : 60 more and more thermal capacity has been getting inducted in actual practice.

• Non-conventional energy

Non-conventional energy sources have been paid mere lip service till date. Funds for the MNES have been pruned. Not much thrust has been visible in trying to develop low cost technologies for harnessing this abundant and low cost resource. Considering the remote terrain localities, commonly inaccessible by roads and railways having low demands in pockets should be catered through non conventional energy sources. Low temperature solar thermal system and photo voltaic have bright prospect in the country. The non-conventional energy industry, which is projected to play an important role in the power sector in future, has not been fully linked to the market for investment manned innovation.

Moreover, to have a synergy in approach, the country needs an integrated energy policy taking into consideration all aspects of fuel. The policy may highlight a few relevant issues, some of which are mentioned here.

Presently, the national average PLF of Thermal Power Station is 55% (approx.). Financial resource being limited, it is felt that maximum generation from the existing power plant is imperative as because a mere 1% increase in the PLF can yield an addition of 500 MW from the already installed capacity. It is worth while to mention here that for installing a 500 MW thermal Power station the cost would be around 1500 crores. In order to achieve maximum generation from the existing installed capacity, a massive programme for Renovation and Modernisation should be undertaken immediately.

With resource as the major crunch for power generation project, conservation has to be given its priority. The energy conservation through efficient utilisation of various energy resources such as electrical power, oil, lubricants etc. in industries should be a part of national agenda. Unfortunately energy consumption in industries like steel, fertilisers, paper, cements, aluminium etc., in India, is 50 to 70% more by international standards. Apart from energy inefficiency because of old and out of date technology, there are many areas in the industry, where consumption is much more than utilisation and there is a vast scope to minimise the wastage through more efficient utilisation of the energy resources available at their disposal. The question here is of "ENERGY COMPLACENCY".

The nation requires a wholistic energy management programme with a systematic and planned approach. The need is for a STATUTORY ENERGY AUDIT in industries. Govt. as owners of the major industries in the country is expected to give the lead by making ‘energy audit’ a statutory requirement in Govt. and Public Sector Industries and should enforce the same in all other industries. Like financial audit, the check on energy accounting and analysis can be made by external agencies. Govt. can seek the assistance of various voluntary groups in this endeavour by involving them in the ‘external audit agencies’ to keep a proper check on the ‘in house’ energy conservation / audit activities within the industries. This will certainly give economic benefit to the industries. Apparently, it may involve some capital investment but ultimately after the pay back period the industry will get reasonable return through energy saving.