Report Launch Event and Experts’ Comments on Low Carbon Electricity Transition Roadmaps for India
Webinar | 27 November 2020 | 4PM to 5PM (IST)
Organized by SusPoT – Center for Sustainability in partnership with Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (SSEF)
Low carbon electricity transition roadmaps for future power supply options are valuable tools for developing India’s climate mitigation strategies. Electricity system modeling to understand future trajectories and developments of the power sector has become a norm to support the future energy policies of any nation. Various energy system models have been developed in recent years that have different capabilities and are better suited for different purposes. As a result, many modeling studies show significant differences in their predictions and projected future scenarios. Further, most of the future roadmaps are developed keeping climate mitigation as their utmost priority and often ignore other socio-environmental aspects of energy transition. Hence, harmonizing, comparing and interpreting the results of different modeling studies from multiple perspectives within a single framework becomes necessary.
In this webinar, Dr. Anshu Bharadwaj (CEO, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation) delivered the keynote speech and launched the Technical Report – ‘Comparative Evaluation of Long-Term Low Carbon Electricity Transition Roadmaps for India’, a study published by SusPoT in partnership with SSEF. Then Mr. Mitavachan Hiremath (CEO, SusPoT) presented the key findings of the Roadmaps Technical Report. The report investigates several electricity transition roadmaps prepared for India under various modeling studies, and identifies the key trends and gaps in the India specific roadmaps. Further, the impacts of electricity transition roadmaps on multiple sustainable goals are quantified and assessed in this work. The report launch session was followed by experts’ comments on the status-quo of electricity modeling and assessment. In total, 4 experts from India and Germany shared their views and perspectives: Mr. Vivek Sen (Associate Director, SSEF) shared his views on the present status of electricity modeling studies and data in India; Dr. Peter Viebahn (Head of Research Unit, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Germany) presented his views on modeling energy scenarios and the need to combine energy models with multi-criteria assessment techniques; Mr. Srinivas Krishnaswamy (CEO, Vasudha Foundation) addressed the issue of data availability and access in India’s power sector, alongside highlighting the work done at Vasudha Foundation to address these issues; lastly, Dr. Wided Medjroubi (Team Leader, Institute of Networked Energy Systems, DLR – German Aerospace Center) presented the activities of her Institute on open-source modeling of electricity networks in Germany and how it can be replicated elsewhere.
To conclude, the webinar was well received by over 100 registrations from 64 organizations across India (mainly) and Europe. The webinar agenda, the Roadmaps Technical Report and the webinar recordings (on YouTube) can be accessed below.