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07/12/20 15:00 PM IST

End of Oil Age

In news

Oil age the present source of energy may come to end and technology can be the cause which is illustrated through a map

Six broad themes define The New Map
  • First is the US shale revolution, which transformed the US from a major importer of oil and gas to a significant exporter
  • The second is the leveraging by Russia of its gas exports to compel former members of the Soviet Union to stay within its sphere of influence and to embrace China into an energy partnership (“Russia needs markets; China needs energy”);
  • The third is China’s assertion of its rights over the South China Seas — a critical maritime route for its energy imports and the Belt and Road initiative;
  • The fourth is sectarian strife (Sunni/Shia) in the Middle East which, compounded by volatile and falling oil prices, has brought the region to the edge;
  • The fifth is the Paris climate summit and its impact on public sentiment, investment decisions, corporate governance and regulatory norms.
  • And the last is the consequential impact of the manifold and impressive advancement of clean energy technologies.
The New Map
  • They suggest instead that the energy transition will unfold in different ways in different countries and over different time periods.
  • This is because they will be influenced not just by economics and technology, but also by politics and public activism.
The New Map & India

It raise several questions for India.
  • How might they impact its objective to provide reliable, affordable, clean and universal access to energy?
  • Who will bear the costs of the transition — in particular, the costs of retrofitting industrial infrastructure and upgrading the grid to manage the intermittent flows of solar and wind energy?
  • The “new maps” do not provide answers to such India-specific questions. They do, however, provide a framework for deliberating policy options.
  • Specifically, they throw up three policy initiatives set along the twin axes of fossil fuel and renewables.
On the renewable axis, the “new maps” would suggest two policy initiatives.
  • One, India must develop its own world-scale, competitive, manufacturing systems for photovoltaics (PVs) and battery storage.
  • If not, it will find itself on the horns of a dilemma. It will not be able to provide affordable solar units unless it accepts the further deepening of dependence on Chinese imports.
  • Currently, China manufactures 75 per cent of the world’s lithium batteries; 70 per cent of solar cells; 95 per cent of solar wafers and it controls 60 per cent of the production of poly silica.
  • Two, India must prepare a clean energy technology strategy. Technology is the answer to the energy transition. That is what will bring the system to the tipping point of radical change.
  • It has placed clean energy R&D at the forefront of its “Plan 2025”.
Source: Indian Express


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