There is a striking similarity between the ongoing pandemic outbreak and the electricity supply chain. They both have touched every human life, impacted society and affected economic activity.
Despite all the odds arising from the pandemic itself and the covenant lockdowns imposed, the electricity supply was seamlessly smooth. There were no reports of major power discontinuity or outages, nationwide. Power supply interruptions, if any, were addressed promptly, despite the inclement working conditions. The effort of the entire power industry is truly laudable.
India has been amongst the countries to have been significantly adversely affected by the pandemic. However, it is worth observing that the nation is striving to put a new order in place. Apart from fiscal relief measures that are temporal in nature, there is also move to bring in systemic changes. One such is the “Atma Nirbhar Bharat” campaign. In the current context, this new philosophy is more than welcome.
The Indian electrical equipment industry has relied on equipment sourced from China. This reliance has covered practically the entire gamut of equipment, from supercritical boilers and turbine-generators, right down to hand-held test & measurement equipment. It may be recalled that in the period 2006-08, when India was striving to add thermal power capacity based on supercritical technology, there was practically no Indian supplier. Foreign companies, predominantly Chinese, found their equipment being deployed in a diversity of upcoming thermal power plants—not just private but government-owned as well.
Over the years, India has changed its approach towards China-made equipment. The realities of substandard quality, poor or simply no after-sales service, etc dawned upon the Indian consumer and purchases started being made with due judgement.
During the ongoing lockdown, India changed its stance towards China, from a purely diplomatic perspective. This has led to a philosophy of being self-reliant in the entire supply chain, across the entire economy. It is not just about shunning China-made goods it is about India achieving comprehensive self-reliance and self-sufficiency.
In the power value chain, there are some focus area that India is pursuing—renewable energy, e-mobility and energy storage, to name a few. Currently, India is reliant on key equipment related to these areas. For instance, India is yet to develop cost-effective options for solar photovoltaic cells, and high-capacity storage batteries for e-vehicles and energy-storage projects.
Also read: Privatization of power distribution: One more disruption
Propelled by the “Atma Nirbhar Bharat” ideology, it is expected that Indian manufacturers and service providers will redouble their efforts in helping the country become self-reliant in the aforementioned products as well as others where dependency still persists.
Post-COVID19, as experts believe, there will be a worldwide wave of resurgence of economic activity and entrepreneurial spirit. India would do well to ride on this wave and launch its self-reliance mission with aggressive spirit.
The author, Venugopal Pillai, is Editor, T&D India. Views expressed here are personal. The author may be contacted on venugopal.pillai@tndindia.com