Business Standard: Five Reasons Why India's Natural Gas Push Remains Hot Air

Even as the world attempts to move away from fossil fuels in an effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions, at least one fossil fuel is being pursued by policy makers: natural gas. Electricity generated using natural gas (which is not the same as LPG) emits half as much CO2 as coal. The latter currently constitutes 79% of India’s electricity supply mix. In fact, the Government of India plans to double coal supply in the coming years in order to ensure universal access to power. While renewable sources of energy are also being given a large push, fossil fuels will continue to be a mainstay as renewables have issues related to intermittency of supply and there is no proven large scale energy storage system available.

In light of these facts, natural gas has the potential to provide relatively clean electricity supply while renewable and energy storage technology reach maturity. Unfortunately, India lacks adequate resources of this hydrocarbon. Partly for this reason, natural gas requires efficient policy and regulatory frameworks to be in place to ensure growing and consistent supplies, unlike coal, which has been a mainstay in spite of the rampant corruption and inefficiency in managing the sector. MORE