Telangana’s Energy Landscape: Policy and Practical Challenges
Concept Note
The ongoing climate crisis makes it urgent for all countries to find sustainable pathways to decarbonise their energy economies. According to the statistical review of World Energy 2024, in 2023, coal supplied 56.3 percent of India’s primary commercial energy, followed by oil at 27.1 percent. Solar, wind and other new renewables supplied 6.1 percent of primary commercial energy, followed by natural gas at 5.7 percent and hydro at 3.56 percent. In 2023, India’s energy consumption grew by 7.3 percent, whereas the global energy consumption grew by 2 percent. India’s coal consumption surpasses that of North America and Europe combined in 2023. India is the 4th largest consumer of oil after the USA, China, and Europe. With these numbers in view, India has a long and difficult road to achieve its Nationally Determined Target of reducing emissions intensity of its GDP by 45 percent by 2030 from 2005 level and of achieving Net Zero by 2070.
Just Energy Transition (JET) is a way to transform the systems of energy production and consumption. JET needs to recognise that energy policies, technologies, and practices can have different impacts on women, men, the poor and low-income, gender-diverse individuals and socially marginalised communities. It should therefore aim to ensure that all segments of society, particularly vulnerable and marginalised communities, are actively involved in and benefit from the shift to cleaner and more sustainable energy systems. JET must include phasing out the use of fossil fuels and utilising renewable energy sources, while improving energy efficiency and ensuring that efforts to scale up renewable energy production do not replicate the harms of the coal, minerals, oil, and gas sectors—like taking land from people without consent and unjust compensation.
Since the Paris Agreement, it has been clear that there will be an imminent phase down of fossil fuel-based energy. This will result in petrostates and fossil fuel companies diverting these resources to the production of material like fertilizers, plastics, synthetic fibres etc., all of which use petrochemicals as raw materials. Any phase out of fossil fuels therefore, along with a shift to renewable energy, necessarily needs to challenge this diversion of fossil fuels from energy to materials. Petrostates and the fossil fuel companies have until now not only kept this aspect out of climate negotiations, but are actively seeking their relevance as materials in the shift to renewable energy. Conversations on the state-of-play vis-à-vis production and consumption and on material transition is still nascent, which needs to be developed and accelerated.
A Just Energy Transition can be a time-consuming exercise, as it requires and necessitates a whole system transformation. It will also need to usher in material change in the lives of people. There is a need to explore the ramifications of policy decisions on energy supply infrastructure in India and understand the linkages of governance institutions to equitable and clean energy distribution across the states. According to a paper published in 2021,“the top 20% of high-expenditure households in India are responsible for causing seven times the greenhouse emissions traceable to the poor who spend less than USD 1.9 (INR 140) a day”. It is important, therefore, to also address inequalities in energy use as India develops a response to the climate crisis and prepares a pathway to JET.
What is the purpose/intention of the Telangana State level conference? Why is it needed?
India has a diverse landscape, and each State has access to different energy resources, faces different challenges and has differing laws and regulations. The availability of energy resources is quite unique to each state, for e.g, the solar power capacity in States like Rajasthan is high, while Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have high wind power capacity. Some States generate electricity through hydropower, while others meet the majority of their demands through thermal power. Likewise, in our country, the agricultural practices, livelihood practices, business set-ups etc. all are diverse. Therefore, to meet the supply-demand, the states are interdependent on each other. However, the political dynamics between the States, and relationship with the Centre also impacts the energy sector.
The Telangana State Energy Finance Conference will be an explorative exercise to understand and engage with stakeholders in Telangana and discuss policies that cater to the specific needs of communities and businesses in Telangana. This conference envisions bringing together financial & energy experts, academic, civil society organizations and industry with diverse viewpoints in Telangana to converse, in an effort to understand, share, reflect and critically engage with each other.
With this in context, some questions that the conference will address include:
- With potential pumped storage hydropower development in Telangana, what are the challenges related to environmental sustainability, water resource management, and grid integration?
- Given Singareni Collieries Company Limited’s ambitious plan to expand coal mining operations both within Telangana and beyond, how does it affect the community development, especially considering the extensive forest land involved and the need for local employment and safety assurances?
- As the Public Private Partnership (PPP) enlarges in the energy landscape, from primary resource extraction, production, transmission and distribution, how can the regulation also transition?
- Telangana’s Clean and Green Energy Policy 2025 has attracted investments worth ₹29,000 crore and aims to add 20,000 MW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. How is the state ensuring sustained and efficient financial flow to meet these ambitious targets, and are these policies and targets geared towards supporting decentralised RE projects?
- There is significant investment in waste to energy (WTE) incineration infrastructure in Telangana, including scientific processing of wet and dry waste and circular economy initiatives like construction and demolition waste recycling. What are the consequences of burning such huge quantities of waste, and how are communities being affected by these projects, and what are the potential alternatives to WTE?
Co-Organised by Rural Reconstruction and Development Society (RRDS), People’s Monitoring Group on Electricity Regulation (PMGER), Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI), Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), and Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA).
