Making “Right to Energy” possible

Speaking at the inaugural address of TICE 4, Upendra Tripathi, director general, International Solar Alliance (ISA) stressed on the urgency to tackle climate change. “First, 600 million people without access to electricity by 2040 is morally not acceptable. Second, we muct act with speed, scale and skills,” he stated.

“Speed is imperative as not much time is left. Scale means a lot of member countries have to come together and look at best practices. ISA is talking about near-zero cost of solar, which is possible with skills and innovations.”

“It has two other components: One is a divergent system where sophisticated mini grids can meet the local demand. The second is ‘one sun, one world, one grid’ (as coined by PM Modi), which is theoretically possible if we take the case of the Internet, where 99% of international data goes through submarine cables.”

“The question is: who puts how much energy to the grid? Obviously, if a country produces thousands of megawatts, it could export the surplus. Somebody has to sit down and write down the core for this. I am happy to say that British foreign ministry has proposed that ISA could do it,” Tripathi said.

While welcoming the dignitaries, Raj Singh Niranjan, energy law expert and managing partner of TILA and convener of the conference, said that the objective of the conference is to bring about “Energy Revolution” by bringing in all the stakeholders on a single platform and discussing the government initiatives, policies, innovative ideas and potential measures to remove energy poverty.

TICE 4 was organized by Dr Gopal Energy Foundation (DGEF)—a non-profit organization that aims at enabling “Energy for All” by serving the international community in the disciplines of power, petroleum, gas, coal, nuclear and renewable energy sector.

The day-long event held deliberations on topics like ways to provide energy access to all, key challenges in the energy sector and solutions, de-risking the investments, land acquisition for energy projects, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 and its implications on energy companies, and dispute resolution.