Editorial 1: Powering Amrit Kaal
Context:
- s per BP energy outlook and IEA estimates, India as the world’s fastest-growing major economy with rising energy needs, India will account for approximately 25 per cent of the global energy demand growth between 2020-2040.
- It is imperative to ensure energy access, availability and affordability for our large population. This makes our case sui generis and has driven our energy strategy, now acknowledged the world over as being pragmatic and balanced.
Ensuring energy justice to the people
- Despite importing over 85 per cent of its crude oil requirements and 55 per cent of its natural gas requirements, prices of diesel in India have actually gone down in the last 1 year as compare petrol and diesel prices went up by 35-40 per cent in the US, Canada, Spain and the UK, and
- When several countries in our neighbourhood have had dry outs and power cuts to manage demand, there has been no shortage of fuel anywhere in India, even during floods and natural calamity situations.
- The Centre and many states announced cuts in excise duty and VAT rates, twice.
- Oil PSUs, being good corporate citizens, absorbed huge losses to ensure that the massive hikes in the prices of crude oil and natural gas in the international market were not passed on to Indian consumers.
- Subsidised APM gas for the city gas distribution sector was increased even at the cost of cutting down the captive use of domestic gas by our own PSUs.
- Along with it , export cess was imposed on petrol, diesel and ATF, and a windfall tax on domestically produced petroleum products to prevent refiners and producers from profiteering at the cost of domestic consumers.
Widening areas of Energy:
- Over the years, India has expanded its network of crude oil suppliers from 27 nations to 39 nations.
- India has also further strengthened ties with countries like the US (energy trade has gone up 13 times in the last four years) and Russia to ensure a reliable supply of crude oil.
- This strategic market card, as the world’s third-largest importer, not only ensured affordable energy for Indian consumers but also had a calming effect on global petroleum markets.
Exploring new areas of energy along with exploring domestic production
- India is working on both traditional fuel exploration as well as energy transition.
- Reforms in making India an attractive energy and power destination are reflected in the consulting firm Wood Mackenzie noting that India could be the licencing wildcard of 2023.
- It has reduced the prohibited/no-go areas in our exclusive economic zone (EEZ) by 99 per cent, releasing nearly 1 million sq km for exploration.
- However, as demonstrated at Glasgow, India is steadfast to climate change commitments – becoming net-zero in emissions by 2070 and cutting down emissions by 1 billion tonnes by the end of 2030.
Moving toward sustainable mixed source energy while focusing on renewable based energy
- India is also accelerating its efforts to move towards a gas-based economy by increasing the share of gas from the current 6.3 per cent to 15 per cent by 2030. India has connected more than 9.5 crore families with clean cooking fuel in the past nine years.
- Since 2014, India has increased the length of its gas pipeline network from 14,700 km to 22,000 km in 2023.
- India took a giant stride in its biofuel revolution by launching E20 – 20 per cent ethanol-blended gasoline, which will be rolled out in 15 cities across the country in the next two years.
- India’s ethanol blending gasoline has grown from just 1.53 per cent in 2013-14 to 10.17 per cent in 2023
- India is also setting up five second-generation ethanol plants that can convert agricultural waste into biofuel, further reducing pollution due to stubble burning, and generating income for farmers.
- National Green Hydrogen Mission has been launched with an outlay of Rs 19,744 crore to develop the country’s green hydrogen ecosystem in the country and accelerate India’s efforts towards 4 MT of annual green hydrogen production.
- It will save Rs 1 lakh crore in cumulative fossil fuel import savings by 2030. India is poised to realise its full potential to create a green hydrogen ecosystem by 2030.
Conclusion
- India is taking an integrated path for transitioning India’s future mobility pathways. Therefore, along with green hydrogen and biofuels, India is also supporting electric vehicles through a production-linked incentive scheme to make advanced fuel cells of 50 gigawatt hours.
- As Amrit Kaal plan to become a $ 26 trillion economy by 2047 and ensuring energy security and achieving energy independence remains is key goal for the betterment of people.
Editorial 2: Why ISRO brough a satellite back into Earth’s atmosphere
Recent Context:
- The Indian Space Research Organisation brought down a satellite in a controlled manner after its end of life, for the first time earlier this week.
- The weather satellite Megha Tropiques-1, which was developed as a joint mission by Indian and French space agencies, entered the atmosphere after the final two manoeuvres on Tuesday and burnt up over the Pacific Ocean.
How was the satellite brought down?
- The Megha Tropiques satellite was launched aboard a PSLV by the space agency in 2011. Although the planned mission life of the satellite was only three years, it continued providing data on water cycle and energy exchanges in the tropics for nearly a decade.
- With over 120kgs of fuel remaining in the satellite even after being decommissioned, the space agency determined that there was enough to attempt a controlled re-entry, where a series of 20 manoeuvres over eight months lowered the orbit of the satellite such that it re-entered the dense atmosphere on Tuesday and burned up.
Its significance
- This was the first time that the space agency attempted such a manoeuvre to clear out space debris despite the satellite not being built to do so.
- As the re-entry was not really planned as part of the mission; there was fuel left so Isro attempted it.
- Usually, satellites are left in their orbit and because of the gravitational pull of the earth, they come down to the atmosphere over years and years.
- When the satellites re-enter the atmosphere, the friction causes it to heat up to extreme high temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius. Without a heat shield, 99% of a satellite gets burnt up whether in a controlled re-entry or an uncontrolled one
Why did ISRO attempt a controlled re-entry?
- Other than extra fuel conveniently remaining in the satellite after the mission life ended, Isro attempted the control re-entry to demonstrate and understand the process of doing so.
- With several space fairing nations and private entities launching satellites, mostly in low earth orbits, it has become imperative to keep the space clean.
- There are thousands of objects flying around in these orbits; not just old satellites and their parts but also last stages of the rockets that take them there. Moving at extremely high speeds, even the smallest debris can destroy active satellites.
- Kessler syndrome is a major concern , a scenario where the amount of space debris reaches a point where they just create more with one collision triggering others.
- This is the reason the space debris are monitored and sometimes satellites have to be moved from their way.
- ISRO carried out 21 such collision course manoeuvres in 2022 In fact, the space agency set up a department last year to monitor the space debris and mitigate the risks posed.
- The space agency was also following the guidelines of UN and the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) that say satellites should be deorbited after mission life either through controlled entry over a safe impact zone as was attempted by ISRO with Megh Tropiques-1, or by bringing it down to reduce the orbital lifetime (the time it would take for a satellite to drop from a particular orbit by itself) to less than 25 years.
- Along with it , It is also recommended that in such cases stored fuel be removed from the spacecraft to ensure that there are no accidents that break up the satellite in space and create more debris
Have Isro satellites rained debris in the past?
- As per ISRO official. Almost 99.9 per cent of a satellite burns up in the atmosphere. Therefore, ISRO haven’t seen really had instances of debris raining over inhabited areas
- The satellites in low earth orbit are usually smaller and hence more likely to disintegrate complete when they enter the atmosphere.
What happens to satellites usually?
- A controlled re-entry like the one attempted by Isro earlier this week is possible only for satellites in the low-earth orbit –at about 1,000 kms over the surface of the earth.
- These manoeuvres, however, are not usually attempted because fuel reserves have to be maintained in the satellite after mission life is over.
- As It is difficult for satellites placed in geo-stationary or geosynchronous orbit because they are at altitudes of nearly 36,000 kms.
- “For attempting to bring down a satellite from such as orbit, a huge fuel reserve would be needed. This will only make the satellite heavier and costlier at launch
- While considering it takes debris from the low earth orbit 20 to 30 years to fall to the atmosphere naturally, it would take generations for those in geosynchronous or geo-stationary orbits to fall.
- Therefore, “These orbits are like parking lots in space where all old satellites are put in. Sometimes a satellite might escape to deep space as well
Conclusion:
- Brining satellite back into Earth’s atmosphere shows technological demonstration of ISRO which makes it one of the emerging space agencies in the world. It will help in reducing the satellite launching cost and also check of space pollution and threats because of space debris.