One Nation One Grid Energy Initiative: India paves it's way ahead
India has issued an open invitation to the biogas developers for making investments here as it launched the ‘One Nation, One Gas Grid’ energy initiative recently. Prime Minister talked about RE-INVEST in his speech regarding the same. Get to know about the scheme and more below.
What is the objective of One Nation One Grid?
All the willing rural households would be provided with cooking gas and electricity connection by 2022 that is by the 75th year of India’s independence.
What is the National Grid?
The National Grid is the high-voltage electricity network in India that connects power stations and all-important substations to ensure generation of electricity at every point across.
The National Grid is owned, operated, and maintained by state-owned Power Grid Corporation of India.
What has been updated?
This year at the India Energy Forum the government announced that the expansion of national gas grid would be done upto 34,500 kilometres from the previous 17,500 km. It would be accompanied by pricing reforms too.
About Natural Gas
- Natural Gas is called the cleanest fossil fuel. Natural gas is a mixture of gases which are rich in hydrocarbons.
- All these gases, including methane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide etc which are naturally found in the atmosphere. Natural gas reserves are deep inside the earth near other solid & liquid hydrocarbons beds like coal and crude oil.
Uses of Natural Gas:
- The uses of natural gas are in feedstock and in the manufacture of fertilizers and plastics.
- It is also used as commercially important chemicals as well as fuel for the generation of electricity
- It is also used for cooking fuel in domestic households and transportation fuel for vehicles
Need for Grid
- India is the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the US and China
- The Grid would be helpful in meeting emission reduction targets that were signed at Paris Agreement which would be done by increasing the usage of natural gas and Green fuel
- Natural gas can be used as a transition fuel before completely switching to solar or clean energy. India aims to increase the share of Natural gas usage to 15% by 2030
New Pipelines Introduced: Details
The connectivity of gas sources must be expedited. In India certain new pipelines have been introduced like;
1. Jagdishpur Haldia/Bokaro- Dhamra Pipeline Project
- The authority to execute this project is GAIL
- Phase 1 of the project would include Phulpur to Dobhi in Gaya
- A spur line would be connected to Varanasi, Patna, Gorakhpur and Barauni
- 40 per cent of the aid would be provided by the government of India under Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga for Eastern India project
- This project would build a new fertilizer unit at Durgapur and revive 3 fertilizer plants at Gorakhpur, Barauni and Sindri
2. Guwahati Pipeline Project
- This project links Barauni to Guwahati in Assam and would be later connected to National Gas Grid
- This project would fulfil the requirement of entire eastern and northeastern states of India including UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Assam.
3. North East Region Gas Grid
- It is a joint venture of GAIL, ONGC, NRL, IOCLand OIL collectively called Indradhanush Gas Grid Ltd.
- It is developing a trunk pipeline connectivity in every northeastern state.
- The major objective of this pipeline is to transport domestic natural gas to NE states connecting it to National Gas Grid
4. Kochi Koottanad Bangalore Mangalore Phase 2 pipeline project
- Phase 1 of this project has already been commissioned and phase 2 is under progress.
- GAIL is the authority responsible for this project's implementation
5. Ennore Thiruvallur Bangalore Nagapattinum Madurai Tuticorin Natural Gas Pipeline
- This one is being constructed by IOCL
- It would be connecting new Ennore's LNG terminal with Tamil Nadu's consumption cities.
- One of the branches would also be connected to Bangalore
Way Forward
The government has drafted a new policy which is focusing on designing a city gas distribution network on the state level. The pricing would also be controlled by the gas distributors and suppliers in India and would not be regulated by global prices. The smart policies would surely make India independent of the first world gas supply.
