Number of questions- Mains: 02, Prelims – 10
Mains Questions of the day-
1.In India’s energy security crisis led to a question about nuclear power, Discuss.
Introduction:
Mention the present status of Nuclear Energy in India
Body:
Mention the importance of Nuclear Power in India.
What measures can be taken to promote alternative sources of energy?
Conclusion:
In conclusion, given the country’s demographic growth, the aspirations of a young population, lack of indigenous fuel resources, and mounting climate change, India needs a long-term vision and commitment to safeguarding electricity for the upcoming generation.
Content:
- Energy is the engine for economic growth and when the country moves ahead on the path of development, it is necessary to utilize every energy resource available in the country, especially nuclear power.
- Currently, the world is dependent on fossil fuels to match the huge amount of energy consumption which are finite in quantity across the world.
- This is why energy security is such an important issue.
Energy Security and its status in India:
- Energy security means consistent availability of sufficient energy in various forms at affordable prices.
- These conditions must prevail over a longer period of time if energy is to contribute to sustainable development.
- India’s power generation capacity has increased a hundred-fold since Independence, and it is today the third-largest producer of electricity in the world.
- But still, India is far behind in terms of energy security.
- This is because India is also one of the world’s largest energy consumers and currently relies on imported fuels to a significant extent.
- The major fuel in India’s energy mix is coal 55%, a major portion of which is produced domestically.
- Renewable energy sources make up about 20%.
Status of Nuclear power in India:
- Nuclear power is considered by many as being the only source of energy suitable to support continuous industrialisation and urbanisation.
- But it currently provides only 3% of India’s total electricity.
- Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is the public sector enterprise under the Department of Atomic Energy entrusted with the task of nuclear power generation in the country.
- But, India is planning to significantly increase the present share of electricity derived from nuclear power in the next two to three decades to reduce India’s dependence on fossil fuels.
- About India’s Nuclear power production program
- India has the world’s third-largest reserves of thorium. Thorium, however, cannot be used as a fuel in its natural state.
- It needs to be converted into its usable “fissile” form after a series of reactions.
- To aid this, a three-stage nuclear program was envisaged.
- Dr. Homi J Bhabha envisioned the road map of the three-stage nuclear program.
- The program had been conceived with the ultimate objective of utilising the country’s vast reserves of thorium-232.
- These three stages feed into each other in such a way that the spent fuel generated from one stage of the cycle is reprocessed and used in the next stage of the cycle to produce power.
- This kind of closed fuel cycle was designed to breed fuel and to minimise the generation of nuclear waste.
- Currently, there are 22 operational reactors in India with a total installed capacity of 6780 MWe (Megawatts electric).
- The countries first two reactors at Tarapur, Maharastra were imported.
- But the 220 MWe Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu was the first completely indigenous nuclear power plant.
- These reactors were commissioned during 1983-85.
- By the 1990s, Indian nuclear scientists and engineers were ready to scale up from 220 MWe. Accordingly, two reactors of 540 MWe were commissioned at Tarapur in 2005 and 2006.
- NPCIL decided to avail advantage from economies of scale and volume by upgrading further to 700 MWe capacity reactors and standardizing this design for ‘fleet construction’.
- At present, 10 nuclear power reactors with a total of 8000 MW capacity are under construction.
- Additionally, the government has accorded administrative approval and financial sanction of 10 indigenous PHWRs of 700 MW capacity each, to be set up in fleet mode.
- On progressive completion, India’s nuclear power capacity is expected to reach 22480 MW by the year 2031.
Importance of Nuclear Power:
Many questions will be raised on India’s nuclear power investment when India’s renewable energy share is more than 20%. But the rationale behind retaining nuclear power are,
- Reduce Indian imports: Currently, India draws nearly 63% of its total energy generation from thermal sources. Of this, nearly 55% is met from coal and the rest from gas. The worrisome part of this configuration is that India imports a significant part of its fossil fuels. For a large and rapidly developing country, bulk fuel imports raise economic and strategic vulnerabilities. Nuclear power can avert such situations.
- Nuclear power’s low carbon footprint: The large-scale use of coal has severe consequences for global warming and climate change, which are critical issues besides air pollution that the planet faces today. If a growing Indian economy continues to rely on coal, carbon emissions are bound to rise. This will impact national expenditure on domestic environmental and health measures. Nuclear energy, in this context, offers a meaningful alternative.
- Limitations attached to other renewable energy sources: Renewable energy is environmental-friendly and a natural choice for India. But there are certain challenges associated with it. Such as,
- Firstly, solar and wind energy generation is land-intensive.
- Secondly, nuclear plants have become completely indigenous. Whereas solar plants require imported technology and materials such as photovoltaic cells, batteries, and storage equipment, etc.
- Thirdly, solar and wind power generation needs energy storage systems. This makes them unsuitable as a baseload source of electricity.
- Demand supply gap: There is a huge gap between energy demand and energy supply in India, due to its rapidly growing economy. So, the energy shortages in India will continue during the upcoming years. Focusing on nuclear now will help India to tackle those challenges.
Measures to be taken-
- Increase cleaner and sustainable sources:
- India is a developing nation and its economy is dominated by the manufacturing and service sectors, which are energy-intensive.
- India also has to find a middle ground between economic development and environmental sustainability, which requires it to change its energy mix.
- So, India should increase cleaner, sustainable, and nuclear power sources to tackle future needs.
- India needs reliable power supplies:
- Nearly one-third of India’s population is still not connected to any of the country’s five electricity grids.
- So India needs to improve its grid connectivity programs along with the development of Nuclear power.
- India should include all available energy sources:
- In 2018-19, India’s per capita electricity consumption was at 1181 kWh.
- This is very low if one can compare it with countries like Canada (17179 kWh), the US (13338 kWh), China (3000 kWh).
- So, India needs to scale up electricity production to assure a reasonable quality of life for citizens. Such requirements make India enhance every available energy source.
2. What do you understand by the word Ethanol blending? Discuss the present Ethanol Blending program in India.
Introduction:
Write briefly about current Statics related to the Ethanol Blending in India
Body:
Mention the need for Ethanol Blending and challenges Associated to that.
Conclusion:
As we progress towards higher blending of ethanol, careful monitoring and assessment of emissions changes will be needed to make sure that emission reduction potential can be enhanced both for regulated and unregulated pollutants.
Content:
Ethanol blending programme in India:
- The Centre had “launched pilot projects in 2001 wherein 5 percent ethanol blended petrol was supplied to retail outlets”.
- Success of field trials eventually paved the way for the launching of the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme in January, 2003 for sale of 5 percent ethanol blended petrol in nine States and four UTs.
- Currently, 5 per cent of ethanol is blended with petrol in India.
- The government of India has advanced the target for 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol (also called E20) to 2025 from 2030. E20 will be rolled out from April 2023.
- This will help India strengthen its energy security, enable local enterprises and farmers to participate in the energy economy and reduce vehicular emissions.
Ethanol:
- Ethanol can be produced from sugarcane, maize, wheat, etc which are having high starch content.
- In India, ethanol is mainly produced from sugarcane molasses by fermentation process.
- Ethanol can be mixed with gasoline to form different blends.
- As the ethanol molecule contains oxygen, it allows the engine to more completely combust the fuel, resulting in fewer emissions and thereby reducing the occurrence of environmental pollution.
- Since ethanol is produced from plants that harness the power of the sun, ethanol is also considered as renewable fuel.
Need for Ethanol blending in India:
- Ethanol has become one of the major priorities of 21st Century India.
- Mixing 20 percent ethanol in petrol holds multiple attractions for India.
- First, it can potentially reduce the auto fuel import bill by a yearly $4 billion, or Rs30,000 crore.
- Second, it also provides for farmers to earn extra income if they grow produce that helps in ethanol production.
- Third, and no less important, is the fact that ethanol is less polluting than other fuels and, per the NITI Aayog paper, “offers equivalent efficiency at lower cost than petrol”.
- Use of ethanol-blended petrol decreases emissions such as carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), the expert committee noted. Higher reductions in CO emissions were observed with E20 fuel — 50 per cent lower in two-wheelers and 30 per cent lower in four-wheelers.
- Spelling out the opportunity for India for embracing ethanol, the paper stresses that “availability of large arable land, rising production of food grains and sugarcane leading to surpluses, availability of technology to produce ethanol from plant-based sources, and feasibility of making vehicles compliant to ethanol blended petrol make E20 not only a national imperative, but also an important strategic requirement”.
- In Europe, biofuels have been seen as a measure to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from road transport because they were considered CO2-neutral fuels once lifecycle emissions are considered.
Challenges:
- Less Production:
- Currently, domestic production of bioethanol is not sufficient to meet the demand for bio-ethanol for blending with petrol at Indian OMCs.
- Sugar mills, which are the key domestic suppliers of bio-ethanol to OMCs, were able to supply only 57.6% of the total demand.
- Sugar mills do not have the financial stability to invest in biofuel plants.
- There are also concerns among investors on the uncertainty on the price of bioethanol in the future as the prices of both sugarcane and bio-ethanol are set by the central government.
- Compatible vehicles:
- vehicles need to be produced with rubberised parts, plastic components and elastomers compatible with E20 and engines optimally designed for use of E20 fuel”
- The NITI Aayog paper said that two-wheelers and passenger vehicles that are now being made in the country “are designed optimally for E5 (5 percent ethanol blend with petrol) while rubber and plastic components are “compatible with E10 fuel”.
- Water Foot-print:
- While India has become one of the top producers of ethanol but it lags top producers, the USA and Brazil, by a huge margin and remains inefficient in terms of water usage.
- India’s water requirements for producing ethanol are not met through rainwater and the groundwater is used for drinking and other purposes.
- Water footprint, that is water required to produce a liter of ethanol, includes rainwater at the root zone used by ethanol-producing plants such as sugarcane, and surface, ground water, and fresh water required to wash away pollutants.
- Limited Sugarcane Availability:
- Sugarcane is another limited resource that affects the ethanol blending in the country.
- In order to achieve a 20% blend rate, almost one-tenth of the existing net sown area will have to be diverted for sugarcane production. Any such land requirement is likely to put a stress on other crops and has the potential to increase food prices.
- India’s biofuel policy stipulates that fuel requirements must not compete with food requirements and that only surplus food crops should be used for fuel production, if at all.
- Lack of Alternatives:
- Producing ethanol from crop residue can be a good alternative but the annual capacity of bio-refinery is still not enough to meet the 5% petrol-ethanol blending requirement.
- Other biofuels such as Jatropha have often proven to be commercially unviable.
- Handling issues:
Ethanol being a highly flammable liquid marks obligatory safety and risk assessment measures during all phases of production, storage and transportation, thus increasing the cost and risk factor.
Prelims questions of the day:
1.In which of the following city, India’s first indigenously designed High Ash Coal Gasification based on methane production plant was established?
- Indore
- Hyderabad
- Chandol
- Mangalore
Answer: B
Explanation:
Recently, India’s first Indigenously Designed High Ash Coal Gasification Based Methanol Production Plant was inaugurated at BHEL R&D Centre, Hyderabad.
Methanol Energy:
- Methanol burns efficiently in all internal combustion engines, produces no particulate matter, no soot, almost nil SOx and NOx emissions.
- Blending of 15% methanol in petrol will reduce pollution by 33% & diesel replacement by methanol will reduce pollution by more than 80%.
- Although slightly lower in energy content than petrol and diesel, methanol can replace both these fuels in Transport sector, Energy sector, Retail cooking etc.
- Methanol is substantially cheaper than Petrol and Diesel.
- Methanol has many desirable attributes which make it an excellent spark ignition engine fuel, including high octane number and improved efficiency.
2.Which of the following is called Stand-Alone System in Power system?
- Grid system
- Off grid system
- Both A and B
- None
Answer: B
Explanation:
- A stand-alone power system (SAPS or SPS), also known as remote area power supply (RAPS), is an off-the-grid electricity system for locations that are not fitted with an electricity distribution system.
- Typical SAPS include one or more methods of electricity generation, energy storage, and regulation.
- Off-grid systems work independently of the grid but have batteries which can store the solar power generated by the system. This is also Called as Stand Alone system.
- Bringing electrical power to rural and remote areas.
- Emergency power supply during natural disasters.
- Mobile solar systems are used for sea and land expeditions as well as camping, and hiking.
- Used as power backup for areas facing frequent power cuts.
- The system usually consists of solar panels, battery, charge controller, grid box, inverter, mounting structure and balance of systems.
3.District-Level Power Committees for power related schemes will be set up under which of the following Ministry?
- Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
- Ministry of Power
- Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
- Ministry of Corporate Affairs
Answer: B
Explanation:
District-Level Power Committees:
- District-level committees (DLCs) will be set up by Ministry of Power (MoP) that will oversee all power-related schemes of the union government.
- Committee will comprise members of Parliament (MP) in district as Chairperson, other MPs in the district as Co-chairpersons, district collector as Member Secretary, among others.
- All the States/UTs have to notify and ensure establishment of District Electricity Committees, under intimation to MoP.
- It is done to ensure the involvement and oversight of the people in the process of power sector reforms, and their implementation in the country.
4.Which of the following agency has developed the fluidized bed gasification technology?
- Energy Efficiency Services Limited
- Bureau of Energy Efficiency(BEE)
- Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited BHEL
- Central Electricity Authority
Answer: C
Explanation:
India’s initiative for coal gasification:
- Ministry of Coal has created a Resource Group of academic and research institutions for research activities related to Coal Gasification.
- Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has developed the fluidized bed gasification technology suitable for high ash Indian coals to produce syngas and then convert syngas to methanol with 99% purity.
- Jindal Steel & Power Limited has installed world’s first project plant, based on Coal gasification technology by using domestic coal which is already operating in Angul District of Orissa for steel making.
5.Which of the following gas constitute the syngas?
- Hydrogen
- Nitrogen
- Methane
- Suplur dioxide
Answer: A
Explanation:
Coal Gasification:
- Coal gasification is the process of converting coal into synthesis gas (also called syngas), which is a mixture of hydrogen (H2), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2).
- The syngas technology allows conversion of non-mineable coal/lignite into combustible gases through in situ gasification of the material.
- Coal gasification is considered as cleaner option compared to burning of coal.
6.Under which of the following policy, open and non-discriminatory access to the inter-State Transmission System has been established?
- PM-KUSUM scheme
- General Network Access
- Revamped Distribution Sector Reform Scheme (RDSS)
- Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY)
Answer: B
Explanation:
General Network Access (GNA):
- GNA means open and non-discriminatory access to the inter-State transmission system.
- Keeping with the concept of “one nation, one grid”, it does away with unnecessary contracts between power producers and the bulk consumers for delivery of power.
- The producer will have right to access to any consumer as far as the quantum contracted is met.
- Central Electricity Authority initiated the idea of GNA for: Proper planning of transmission system and assured recovery of transmission charges from the applicant.
7.Which of the following agency is implementing the Smart Meter National Programme?
- Energy Efficicency Service Services Limited (EESL)
- Bureau of Enery Efficicency]
- Central Electricity Authority
- Department of Atomic Energy
Answer: A
Explanation:
Smart Meter National Programme (SMNP):
- The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), established in 2009 as a Joint Venture between four CPSUs (NTPC, REC, PFC, and Power Grid) is implementing the Smart Meter National Programme (SMNP) in India.
- Aim: Replace 25 crore conventional meters with smart meters by 2022 at ₹3 lakh crore cost.
- All Capital and Operational expenditure for SMNP is done by EESL upfront (through Build-OwnOperate-Transfer Model), which is to be recovered from DISCOMs over a period.
8.In which of the following locations, Strategic Petroleum Reserves facilities of crude oil have been established?
- Visakhapatnam
- Mangaluru
- Padur
- All the above
Answer: D
Explanation:
Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Program (ISPRP):
- India is the 3 rd largest consumer of energy and also 3rd largest importer of crude oil in the world.
- The nodal body for it is the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited (ISPRL)
- It will help India to move towards 90 days mandated storage by International Energy Agency for member countries and mitigate supply side disruptions.
- Under Phase-I, Strategic Petroleum Reserves facilities of crude oil at 3 locations- Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur have been established.
- Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and National Oil Company from UAE joined Phase-I to store its oil in Mangalore
- Under Phase-II, Chandikhol in Odisha and Padur in Karnataka will have two additional SPR facilities.
- Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited (ISPRL): It is a Special Purpose Vehicle created in 2004, wholly-owned subsidiary of Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB), under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
9.Which of the following is/ are incorrect for Market-based economic dispatch?
- It is electricity market operations reform and
- It is a step towards a “One Nation, One Grid, One Frequency, One Price” framework.
- MBED model would function on a daily basis.
- It is subjected to technical constraints
Answer: C
Explanation:
Market-based economic dispatch (MBED):
- To create a win-win for both the distribution companies and the generators with economic savings for consumers, the Ministry of power has circulated a discussion Paper on Market Based Economic Dispatch (MBED).
- MBED is electricity market operations reform and a step towards a “One Nation, One Grid, One Frequency, One Price” framework.
- MBED model would function on a day-ahead time horizon and schedule and dispatch all generation purely on economic principles, subject to technical constraints.
10.Which of the following is the non-strategic sector as per the new Public Sector Enterprise (PSE) policy?
- Atomic Energy
- Insurance
- Space
- Fertilizers
Answer: D
Explanation:
- Strategic Sector: Bare minimum presence of the public sector enterprises and remaining to be privatised or merged or subsidiarized with other CPSEs or closed.
- Strategic sectors as per the new Public Sector Enterprise (PSE) Policy: atomic energy; space and defence; transport and telecommunication; power; petroleum; coal and other minerals; Banking, insurance, and financial services.