Eradicating Energy Poverty : Overcoming 'Barriers' to Decentralized Energy Systems in India

Dr. Manashvi Kumar presents an incredibly nuanced examination of complex and intertwined conditions that are termed as Energy Poverty. An officer of India's elite civil service (Indian Administrative Service) he has used his zeal for ground level social transformation to conduct extensive field-based studies in a vast swath of rural India to produce this remarkably comprehensive and well researched book. Using multiple methods including surveys and quantitative measures as well as careful ethnographic sensibilities, he offers novel insights into the barriers of energy access for the rural poor, and significantly how (political) power and the distribution of (electrical) power are enmeshed. He argues for policy solutions that are sensitive to the micro-dynamics of socio-cultural contexts in which people and power co-exist. -- Professor Navdeep Mathur, Public Systems Group, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Decentralized energy systems paradigm calls for a) evidence-based policy for local resource assessment, and b) context-specific energy needs assessment for- overcoming barriers to decentralized energy systems in India. The pristine bedrock of the book comprises theoretical underpinnings of empiricism, behaviourism and realism. These concepts find their extension through inter-disciplinarity, and the mixed methods approach adopted for understanding spaces and cultures of energy consumption. Demand side management in energy sector entails-migration from a target-based (TB) approach towards an evidence-based (EB) approach for designing context-based policies in respect of energy demand, and an associated policy shift from a techno-economic regime towards a socio-technical regime embedded in appropriate contexts. Prosumerism holds the key to democratization of energy systems in India. Dr. Manashvi Kumar belongs to the 2004 batch of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) of Punjab cadre. He has an exceptional bachelors and masters degree in earth sciences and an award-winning doctorate in political science. His academic interest spans across subjects pertaining to land, water, energy and power, climate change, regulatory capture, government failure, comparative public policy, inter-disciplinary research, mixed methods research, evidence-based policy and policy analysis Foreword By S. K. Tandon Foreword By Satish B. Agnihotri Acknowledgements Prologue General Target-Based Policy Approach (TBP): What Could Be an Alternative? Detailing of Chapters Chapter 1 in a Nutshell The Arsenal of Case Studies in Chapter 2 The EBP Approach Placing of Scattered Pieces of Evidence from Across Rural Spaces of Energy Consumption and the Collective Learnings from Case Studies on Modes of Energizing Communities Energy Demand Collectivism Expressed Through Coalescence of the Patterns of Differential Consumption in Differing Contexts Standardization of Requirements of a Rural Consumer The Human Element in Energy Consumption The Chinks in the Policy Armour Conclusion—Context-Based Policy Requires Assessment of Local Realities What Has This Piece of a Work Tried to Answer? Scope, Limitations, and Key Takeaways (Learnings) Differential Approaches to Plural Policies Lack of Uniform Approach in Framing Narratives Agenda for Governance, Research, and Policies to Be Laced with Humanism Contents About the Author Abbreviations List of Figures List of Tables 1 Energy and Society: Unravelling Governmentality of Energy Access 1.1 General Outline 1.2 Section A: The World View on Energy Poverty and Its Linkages to Overall Human Well-Being 1.2.1 Conceptualization of Energy Poverty 1.2.2 Review of Extant Literature on Energy Poverty 1.2.3 Understanding Definitions and Dimensions of Energy Poverty 1.2.4 Quantification of Energy Poverty by IEA 1.2.5 The Concept of Energy Ladder-Illustrating Energy Poverty 1.2.6 Visualization of Energy Access in Terms of Incremental Categories (Table 1.2) 1.3 Section B: The Indian Case of Energy Poverty, Energy Access Initiatives, and the Policy Design and Reality Gap 1.3.1 The Phenomenon of Energy Poverty in Rural India 1.3.2 The Rural Nature of Energy Poverty (EP) 1.3.3 The Concept of Energy Poverty as Understood in and Around the Indian Subcontinent 1.3.4 Energy Services in Rural Indian Context 1.3.5 The Energy Planning and Governance Framework-Genesis of Rural Electrification 1.3.6 FOUR POINT AGENDA Highlighting the Gap Between Policy and Praxis—The Backbone of the Envisaged Research Design 1.4 Section C: The Research Plan, Design and Methods Deployed to Meet the Objectives of the Text as Detailed in the Introductory Section 1.4.1 Immersion in the Action Arena (Field Study) 1.4.2 Household Energy Budget 1.4.3 General Description of Choice of Interdisciplinary (Multiple) Methods: The Mixed Methods Research Paradigm 1.4.4 Description of Fieldwork 1.4.5 Sampling Design: Sampling Universe, Sampling Frame, and Sampling Unit 1.4.6 Sampling Method and Sample Size 1.4.7 Sequential Description of Methodology 1.4.8 Renewable Resource Potential Assessment Method and Instrumentation 1.4.8.1 Solar Resource Assessment (Instrumentation and Data Modelling) 1.4.8.2 Biogas Resource Assessment 1.4.9 The Tool Box Metaphor 1.4.9.1 Concept of Visual Ethnography 1.4.9.2 Case Study Approach Annexure A Annexure B References 2 Case Studies as an Immersive Approach for Unravelling Energy–Society Relations 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Evidence-Based Policy (EBP) Paradigm for Fragile Ecosystems Calls for a Realistic Demand Side Management (DSM) of Energy Loads—Case Study from Andamans 2.2.1 General Ground Scenario: Demography, Socio-economic Structure, Power Generation, and Consumption Scenario in the Islands 2.2.1.1 Climate and Vegetation 2.2.1.2 Current Energy Access Scenario 2.2.2 Familiarization with the Area of Study 2.2.3 Introduction to the Dataset 2.2.4 Discussion, Analysis, and Interpretation of Datasets 2.2.4.1 DSM Through Understanding Load Demand and Consumption Pattern Across a Dwelling Unit (Creation of Load Demand Curves) 2.2.4.2 Assessment of Renewable Energy Resource Potential 2.2.4.3 Solar Resource Assessment Potential 2.2.4.4 Biogas Resource Potential Assessed 2.2.5 Conclusion and Policy Implications 2.3 Annexure A: Case Study 2.1 (Andaman and Nicobar Islands) References 2.4 The Story of Solar Pump Irrigators’ Cooperative Enterprise (SPICE), from a Village: Dhundi, Gujarat 2.4.1 Introduction 2.4.1.1 Claims of the Project Proponent 2.4.1.2 Envisaged Outcome 2.4.2 Dhundi Village—The Action Arena 2.4.2.1 The SPICE Narrative Through Its Curator 2.4.2.2 DSUUSM Becomes a Reality 2.4.2.3 Snapshot of Dhundi Project: The Role of the Local, the Panchayat of Dhundi Village (as Recorded During Discussions) 2.4.2.4 Policy Support from the State-Tripartite Agreement for Installation of Solar Agriculture Pumping System 2.4.3 De-construction of Events and the Outcomes 2.4.4 Commercial Interest of the Member Farmer 2.4.5 Technical Issues Related to Discharge 2.4.6 Analysis and Discussion 2.4.6.1 The Operative Solar-Based Irrigation Policy Dose 2.4.7 Interpreting the Policy Content, Relational Dynamics Between the Involved Institutions and Actors 2.4.7.1 The Demonstration Project Remains at a Secluded Distance 2.4.7.2 Socio-political Structure 2.4.7.3 Socio-economic Structure Prior to the Initiative 2.4.7.4 Evidence of Disruption of the Social, Economic, and the Political 2.4.7.5 Legal and Technical Deviations 2.4.8 Conclusion and Policy Implications 2.5 Annexure B: Case Study 2.2 Dhundi (Gujarat) References 2.6 Unleashing Dystopia Through Technology Implant: Technological Lock-In Leads to Disruption of Social Order. A Case Study from Tayyabpur: Bihar, India 2.6.1 Introduction 2.6.1.1 The Relational Dynamics Between the Protagonist and the Local Institutions 2.6.2 Why Tayyabpur? 2.6.2.1 Plight of Tayyabpur and Ward No.9 in Particular 2.6.3 Background of the Tayyabpur Solar Micro-Grid Project 2.6.3.1 The Utopian Conception 2.6.3.2 The Ulterior Design Led to Entrapment: Sharwan Gets Trapped! 2.6.3.3 Sharwan Executes the Lease Deed: The Rules of the Utopian Design 2.6.3.4 Sharwan Reduced to the Status of an Executant 2.6.4 Conclusive Thoughts—Tayyabpur Solar Micro-Grid: Oblivious of Socio-cultural Moorings? 2.6.4.1 The Role of PRAYAS in the Entire Scheme of Things: Escalating Expectations? Over Hyped Technology Capacity? Politics of Inflation and Exaggeration 2.6.4.2 Reference Electrification Model Falls Short of Expectations 2.6.4.3 Loopholes in the Rules of the Game—Institutional Oversights and Pitfalls 2.6.4.4 The Associated Dysfunctionalities 2.6.4.5 A Year Later: The Situation in Tayyabpur 2.6.4.6 Policy Prescription: Take Home Message 2.7 Annexure C: Case Study 2.3 Tayyabpur (Bihar) References 2.8 Regulating Access to Energy Through Webs of—Weak Decentralized Institutions, Meek Regulator, and Distanced Local Development and Administrative Set-Up, Case Study from Lohati Pasai, Uttar Pradesh 2.8.1 Introduction: The Constitutional Mandate for Governance of Energy Access—Pathways to Energy Service Delivery 2.8.1.1 The Core Argument: Should Distributed Application of Energy Access Be Nested in Structures Outside the Purview of Formal Institutions? 2.8.1.2 Decentralized Energy Access Grounded in the Theoretical Import of Improved Service Delivery 2.8.1.3 Pre-requisite for Localized Control of Energy Access Through Active Involvement of Institutions of Local Self-Government 2.8.2 The Race to Light Up a Dwelling Unit: Transforming Power and Relationships Through Lighting Up Lives in Motipur—A Purwa/Majara (Hamlet) of the Revenue Village, Lohati Pasai 2.8.2.1 The Local Power Relations in Motipur—Socio-political Demographic Structure at Play 2.8.2.2 The Class-Caste-Wise Load Consumption Pattern in the Village 2.8.2.3 The Operative Functionality of Non-state Actor: MGP 2.8.2.4 The Local Agents of MGP in the Energy Action Arena 2.8.2.5 The Operational Dynamics of the Micro: The Actors, the Agents, and the Action Arena—In Terms of Resource Allocation, Access to Resource, and Its Capture 2.8.2.6 Trust Deficit Between the RESCO and the Beneficiaries 2.8.3 The Non-state Actor Challenges the Formal Decentralized Institutional Mechanisms of the State that Govern Energy Access 2.8.3.1 Energy Service Adequacy: A Far-Fetched Assessment of Demand Capture! 2.8.4 Conclusion and Policy Implications 2.8.5 Weak Regulation Fuels Voluntarism and Monopoly by Non-state Actors Providing Energy Access 2.9 Annexure D: Case study 2.4 Mera Gao Power (Uttar Pradesh) References 2.10 RS Farms: The Biogas Cum Dairy Farm (A Social Enterprise) That Was Not to Be: A Failed Saga of Perceived ‘Collectivism, Social Innovation, and Social Enterprise’? 2.10.1 About Bahadurpur: Geography, Demography, and Socio-economic Profile 2.10.2 The Family Genealogical Tree and the Prenatal History of RS Farms 2.10.2.1 The Early days of Conception of the Biogas Plant 2.10.2.2 Creation of Trust—Investing in Human Capital, Accumulating Social Capital: The Beginning 2.10.2.3 Issues, Fears, and Anxieties Eroded Trust 2.10.2.4 The Humble Beginning as an Individual Enterprise 2.10.2.5 The Biogas Unit Becomes a Reality 2.10.2.6 The Recurring (Operation and Maintenance Costs) 2.10.2.7 Expansion and Diversification—From a Biogas Unit Providing Free Cooking Fuel Supply, into a Dairy Farm and a Sweet Meat and Confectionary Unit 2.10.2.8 The Physical and the Technical Details of the Unit 2.10.2.9 Interaction with the Mason (the Chief Architect) and the Principal operator—The Real Heroes 2.10.3 Theoretical Imports Applied to Deconstruct RS Farms as a Social, Economic, Cultural, and Political Entity 2.10.3.1 Social Enterprise 2.10.3.2 Summing Up the Theoretical Framework for SEs 2.10.3.3 The CPR Framework and the Related Institutional Dynamics 2.10.3.4 The Three Influential Models 2.10.3.5 Summing Up CPR and Institutional Issues 2.10.4 Theoretical Imports Applied to Ram Singh (RS) Farms 2.10.4.1 Governing and Managing Animal Waste—Does a Refuse/Reject (End Product of Biological Metabolism) Qualify to Be Treated as a Common Property Resource? 2.10.4.2 Social Enterprises, Institutions, Structures: Processes and Outcomes in Bahadurpur 2.10.5 Role of State and Its Policy Instruments and Instrumentalities 2.10.5.1 Mandate of NBMMP 2.10.5.2 Incongruent, Self-Contradicting Policy Designs for Creating Delirium 2.10.5.3 Biogas Takes a Hit Despite Its Potential as a Resource 2.10.5.4 The After Effects of the Macro-policy Design on a Micro-Entity 2.10.5.5 Seeing Like a State, Scott Re-visited—Understanding Events and Fallouts 2.10.6 Conclusion, Policy Implications, and Prescription—Does the Case Exemplify a Paradigm of Negotiated Compromise for Pursuing an Economic Interest Sans Creation of any Social Value? 2.10.6.1 Policy Prescription 2.10.6.2 Proposed Role of Social Capital in Developing Consensus for Acceptance of Progressive, Local Energy Systems as an Alternate Source of Clean Cooking Fuel from the Biogas Unit in Bahadurpur (Table 2.9) 2.10.6.3 Concluding Thoughts 2.11 Annexure E: Case Study 2.5 Bahadurpur (Punjab) References 3 Collectivization of Local Demand Through Localized Energy Needs and Resource Assessment—Understanding Demands Realism 3.1 The Local Energy Inaction: The Missing Anthropogenic Dimension 3.1.1 Polysemy Around Rural Flavour of Energy Poverty 3.1.2 What Does the Evidence Bring on the Table? 3.1.2.1 The Island Ecosystem (Village: Profullyanagar, Tehsil and Community Development (CD) Block: Mayabunder, District: North and Middle Andaman, Union Territory (UT)) 3.1.2.2 The Mainland Black Cotton Soil Rich Ecosystem (Village: Moti Varnoli, Taluka: Desar and District: Vadodara, State: Gujarat) 3.1.2.3 The Nature of Evidence from the Great Plains (Village: Bhikuchack, CD Block: Belchi, Tehsil: Barh, District: Patna, State: Bihar) 3.1.2.4 The Evidence From (Village: Ghanghaol, Tehsil: Fatehpur Sadar, CD Block: Haswa, District: Fatehpur, State: Uttar Pradesh) 3.1.2.5 Evidence From (Village: Amargarh, CD Block and Tehsil: Sadulshahar, District: Ganganagar, State: Rajasthan) 3.1.2.6 Evidence from Himalayan Foothills (Village: Kakira, CD Block: Bhattiyat, Tehsil: Chowari Khas, District: Chamba, State: Himachal Pradesh) 3.1.2.7 Evidence from the Piedmont Zone of the Lesser Himalayas (Village: Anher, CD Block: Pathankot, Tehsil: Pathankot, District: Pathankot, State: Punjab) 3.1.3 Evidence from Case Studies Put Together 3.1.3.1 Learnings from Tayyabpur Solar Micro-grid (Fig. 3.31, Annexure) 3.1.3.2 Learnings from Dhundi (Solar Pump Irrigators’ Cooperative Enterprise) (Fig. 3.32, Annexure) 3.1.3.3 Learnings from North and Middle Andaman District (Demand for Local Renewable Energy Systems: Evidence from North and Middle Andaman District) (Fig. 3.33, Annexure) 3.1.3.4 Learnings from the Functional Experience of Mera Gao Power (MGP) (Fig. 3.34, Annexure) 3.1.3.5 Learnings from Bahadurpur Biogas Plant—Ram Singh (RS) Farms: The Biogas Cum Dairy Farm (A Social Enterprise) That Was Not to Be (Fig. 3.35, Annexure) 3.1.4 Summing Up: The Empirical Evidence from the Fieldwork in Different Geo-Climatic Zones and Physiographic Divisions Establish That at the Micro-level 3.1.5 The Case Studies That Have Been Discussed in the Preceding Section Suggest That the Policy Conception and Construct in Terms of Structural Design Require an Immediate Course Correction Annexure Profullyanagar Moti Varnoli Bhikhuchak Ghanghaol Amargarh Kakira Anher References 4 Decentralized Energy Systems Entails: Evidence-Based Policy Approach 4.1 The Pristine Bedrock: The Fountainhead of Aspirational Welfareism 4.2 The Aspirational Core—The Constitutional Mandate for Governance of Energy Systems: A Critique of Pathways to Energy Service Delivery 4.3 The Burden of Aspirations—As Spelt Out in the Rural Electrification Policy, 2006 4.3.1 The Rural Load Demand Variability 4.3.2 Act Utilitarianism by Self-Interested Actors 4.3.3 The Static Interventions of the Non-state Actors in Providing Energy Services 4.3.4 Passive Consumerism and the Extent Policies of Rural Electrification 4.4 The Missing ‘Local’ in Energy Action and the Associated Polysemy with Endemic, Episodic Texture of Rural Energy Poverty (EP) 4.5 Evidence-based Policy Approach to Address Energy Poverty 4.6 The Missing Dimension of Energy Systems Decentralization in the Policy Estate as Well as the Action Arena 4.7 The Missing Contextual (Scale, Scope, Time, and Place) Dimension in Local Energy Access action 4.7.1 Localized Action for Active Engagement with Energy Access Framework 4.7.2 Positivist Approach for Building Capacities 4.7.3 Argument in Favour of a Socio-technical Approach 4.8 The New Decentralized Energy Systems Paradigm Based on EBP—Evidence Exposes Latent Tension All Along Vertically Integrated Institutions, Structures, and Processes 4.8.1 Conventional, Institutional Frameworks Are Not Good Enough 4.8.2 Conventional Structures Addressing a Symptomatic Issue Appear to be Lacking in Cohesive Action—Sector Characteristics Need to be Appreciated and Tackled 4.8.3 Shaking Up the Archaic Energy Governance and Planning Structural Frame 4.8.4 The Need for New Policy Based on Cohesive Integration of Conventional and Non-conventional Energy Production Systems 4.9 Complex, Multi-stage Policy Formulation in the Renewable Energy Sector Annexure References 5 Conclusion: Overcoming Barriers to Decentralized Energy Systems in India 5.1 The World View on Energy Access and End Use of Energy 5.2 Re-collecting Experiences of the Microculture of Energy Demand and the Rural Dimension of EP 5.3 India Needs to Recognize the Importance of Local Nodes of Energy Consumption for an Effective Engagement with SDGs 5.4 Challenges Before India—Balancing Growth and Sustainable Development 5.5 Energizing Rural India—Rural Electrification: Context, Relevance, Issues, and Concerns 5.5.1 Governance and Planning-Related Concerns 5.5.2 Policy and Design-Related Concerns 5.5.3 Institutional Concerns 5.6 Summing Up Challenges to Implementation of Rural Electrification Projects 5.7 Addressing Issues and Concerns: Re-aligning the Lost Policy Focus 5.8 The Dilemmas of Energy System Transition 5.9 Summing Up—Transcending Barriers and Closure of Design-Reality Gap 5.10 Scope for Further Research 5.11 Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs)—Alternate Pathways to Power Generation, Holding a Promise to Service Culture-Specific Demands, Exhibited Through Distributed Loads 5.12 Tweaking with the Principle and the Institutional Framework 5.13 Tweaking with the Conception and Policy Design in the Rural Electricity Sector 5.14 Translating Policy Aspirations into Praxis Annexure References Bibliography Index