54
2 Energy Sector Progression in India
While rural households relied on non-commercial sources, the industrial sector
was the major beneficiary of commercial energy (around 38.5%) with rising energy
intensity. The electricity consumed by industry per rupee (of value addition) went
up from 0.54 kilowatt-hour in 1960–1961 to 1.02 kilowatt-hour in 1975–1976 with
relatively high proportion of power-intensive metal industries that contributed to the
high electricity intensity.
7 Spurt in industrialization and economic intensification led
to increased consumption of petroleum products also despite three-fold rise in crude
oil prices. During the period 1978–1980, oil exploration, both offshore and onshore,
continued to receive high priority. Onshore exploratory activities in Assam-Arakan
region were stepped up and offshore seismic surveys were conducted over a large
part of the continental shelf. Exploratory drilling was done in the Bombay offshore
area and off the Godavari basin, Kerala coast and Mangalore coast.
Out of three primary sources, only two, that is coal and water, were indigenous
and most dependable but rapidly and disproportionately growing population brought
down their per capita availability. For example, India had coal reserves of 176 tons
per person as compared to 1168 tons/person in China, 22,066 tons/person in USSR,
and 13,448 tons/person in USA. The proven reserves of oil were also very limited,
being only 0.55 tons per capita as against 34.83 tons in USSR, 16.32 tons in USA, and
2.86 tons in China. On nuclear energy front also, the guaranteed uranium resources
in India were about 34,000 tons of which about 15,000 tons were economically
exploitable and enough for the development of first-stage nuclear power program
of about 8000 megawatts of installed capacity. In addition to uranium, India was
endowed with 363,000 tons of thorium deposits for sustaining for subsequent stages
of nuclear program.
In order to maintain annual economic growth rate of 5.5–6% India required 426
million tons coal, 69 million tons oil, and 464 TWh (terrawatt-hour) electricity generation by the turn of the twentieth century. One of the reasons for huge energy demand
was abnormally high loss (20%) of energy in the production, transmission, and distribution of electricity itself. To add to the woes, 60% of oil requirement was met through
imports consuming two-thirds of foreign exchange reserves annually.
Overall, grim scenario of commercial as well as non-commercial energy sources
led to the emergence of renewable energy in the form of solar, wind, biogas, and
energy plantation. For a tropical country like India, solar energy was an abundant
source of renewable energy. However, technical wherewithal for concentrating solar
energy for high heat applications was expensive and efforts were initiated to bring
down the cost of solar-grade silicon material and improve the efficiency of solar
cells. Considerable progress was achieved in the development of solar water heaters,
solar cookers, solar driers, and solar pumps. At the same time, biogas plants were
introduced at the rural and peri urban level to convert animal waste into energy. A
new program for fuel and farm forestry was taken up with the target of 13 lakh
hectares to minimize ecological damage due to excessive harvest of fuelwood from
the forest areas. The broad approaches for the development of renewable sources of
energy in the sixth plan were:
7 Commercial energy consumed per rupee of product.
2 Energy Sector Progression in India
While rural households relied on non-commercial sources, the industrial sector
was the major beneficiary of commercial energy (around 38.5%) with rising energy
intensity. The electricity consumed by industry per rupee (of value addition) went
up from 0.54 kilowatt-hour in 1960–1961 to 1.02 kilowatt-hour in 1975–1976 with
relatively high proportion of power-intensive metal industries that contributed to the
high electricity intensity.
7 Spurt in industrialization and economic intensification led
to increased consumption of petroleum products also despite three-fold rise in crude
oil prices. During the period 1978–1980, oil exploration, both offshore and onshore,
continued to receive high priority. Onshore exploratory activities in Assam-Arakan
region were stepped up and offshore seismic surveys were conducted over a large
part of the continental shelf. Exploratory drilling was done in the Bombay offshore
area and off the Godavari basin, Kerala coast and Mangalore coast.
Out of three primary sources, only two, that is coal and water, were indigenous
and most dependable but rapidly and disproportionately growing population brought
down their per capita availability. For example, India had coal reserves of 176 tons
per person as compared to 1168 tons/person in China, 22,066 tons/person in USSR,
and 13,448 tons/person in USA. The proven reserves of oil were also very limited,
being only 0.55 tons per capita as against 34.83 tons in USSR, 16.32 tons in USA, and
2.86 tons in China. On nuclear energy front also, the guaranteed uranium resources
in India were about 34,000 tons of which about 15,000 tons were economically
exploitable and enough for the development of first-stage nuclear power program
of about 8000 megawatts of installed capacity. In addition to uranium, India was
endowed with 363,000 tons of thorium deposits for sustaining for subsequent stages
of nuclear program.
In order to maintain annual economic growth rate of 5.5–6% India required 426
million tons coal, 69 million tons oil, and 464 TWh (terrawatt-hour) electricity generation by the turn of the twentieth century. One of the reasons for huge energy demand
was abnormally high loss (20%) of energy in the production, transmission, and distribution of electricity itself. To add to the woes, 60% of oil requirement was met through
imports consuming two-thirds of foreign exchange reserves annually.
Overall, grim scenario of commercial as well as non-commercial energy sources
led to the emergence of renewable energy in the form of solar, wind, biogas, and
energy plantation. For a tropical country like India, solar energy was an abundant
source of renewable energy. However, technical wherewithal for concentrating solar
energy for high heat applications was expensive and efforts were initiated to bring
down the cost of solar-grade silicon material and improve the efficiency of solar
cells. Considerable progress was achieved in the development of solar water heaters,
solar cookers, solar driers, and solar pumps. At the same time, biogas plants were
introduced at the rural and peri urban level to convert animal waste into energy. A
new program for fuel and farm forestry was taken up with the target of 13 lakh
hectares to minimize ecological damage due to excessive harvest of fuelwood from
the forest areas. The broad approaches for the development of renewable sources of
energy in the sixth plan were:
7 Commercial energy consumed per rupee of product.