How Delhi can meet its energy needs during hot summers

New Delhi- The history of urban heat is a history of pleasure and pain.

Stepping into a cool, air-conditioned room from the blazing summer heat is the definition of pleasure. But this masks a history of pain, human-induced climate change coupled with unbridled growth and energy consumption.

Ironically, this energy consumption is contributing to climate change, which is causing heatwaves to intensify in India.

Temperatures in New Delhi in the last week of May reached a maximum of 52.3 degrees, the highest recorded in India, breaking India’s all-time record of 51.

Protecting cities from future heat impacts requires a fictional reality that can become future truth.

Cities like Delhi, which are more susceptible to heatwaves, must be prepared for peak daily electricity demand of around 8 gigawatts (GW) in the summer of 2024.

The constant need to maintain urban civilizational energy consumption behaviors through energy-efficient (or inefficient) air conditioners in urban heat islands accelerates this pain-pleasure continuum.

Given India’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2070, Delhi, which is both a victim and a creator of urban heat islands and the thermal impacts resulting from human-induced climate change, is forced to consider purchasing renewable energy to meet peak demand of 8 GW.

This presents the paradox of unlimited energy consumption to meet the demands of Delhi’s scorching, heatwave-filled summers.

The burden of supplying electricity by purchasing renewable energy falls on loss-making power distribution companies, also known as DISCOMs. Delhi is no exception.

In Delhi, distribution companies such as Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (Tata Power DDL), Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (BSES), Rajdhani Power and BSES Yamuna Power need to make arrangements to source electricity from renewable sources to meet the growing power demand electric.

Tata Power has a consumer base of 1.9 million people, while Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (BSES) has a population of 25 million across south, west, east and central Delhi.

Wherever peak demand increases due to higher air conditioning use in the summer, this creates a greater tendency for the heating effect in cities as it facilitates greater energy consumption in cars and buildings by air conditioners, leading to the formation of urban heat islands.

To continue to supplement renewable energy, loss-making distribution companies enter into long-term power purchase agreements and banking arrangements with neighboring states to supply power to Delhi to beat the summer heat.

Through the power banking arrangement, Delhi’s power utilities are providing 670 megawatts (MW). About 2,100 MW of green energy comes from solar, wind and renewable sources.

Of the 2,100 MW of green energy, 888 MW comes from solar, 500 MW from wind, 40 MW from waste-to-energy, and 160 MW from rooftop photovoltaic panels, which will also be used to mitigate the effects of peak load demand during the summer months.

The question is whether these sources will be enough to reduce Delhi’s fossil fuel electricity consumption.

The answer is no.

Increasing energy consumption behavior and peak energy demand need to be supplemented with battery energy storage systems, but this also increases the cost of power and electricity supply and may not always be profitable for struggling power distribution companies or cost-friendly for consumers .

The good news is that Delhi already has battery storage systems in Rohini and Rani Bagh and is promising support in providing continuous and reliable power to key customers in difficult situations during the summer.

Regulatory approval was also obtained for the supply of electricity by Bombay Suburban Electric Supply Rajdhani Power Limited, supplemented by battery storage systems. The project was possible thanks to loans granted at preferential interest rates and the provision of capital to cover the profitability gap.

However, the cost economics of battery power by power distribution companies in various Indian cities still need to be worked out.

Many believe that pumped storage works better than battery systems. There are some successful battery storage power purchase agreements in place, where power distribution companies have provided concessional loans to set up battery storage systems. However, there is no clear answer to this problem.

The effects of heat during the peak summer period in Delhi may result in situations requiring the creation of mobile distribution transformers, additional staff, dedicated 24/7 teams and power restoration infrastructure for sub-grid systems. All this would mean additional costs and investments that could pose a challenge for loss-making energy distribution companies.

Gearing economic activity and demand systems towards unbridled growth is driving unsustainable energy consumption behavior. To break out of this endless cycle, a radical impulse is needed – a complete change of social and economic systems.

In the long run, the fabric of life in a city like Delhi will be unsustainable if heatwaves and climate disasters intensify. As the number of such climatic events increases, Delhi cannot afford to continue creating heat islands due to the increasing load on air conditioners.

New forms of urban lifestyle, value systems, social incentives to reduce energy conservation and nature conservation behavior through the protection of trees and lakes need to be developed.

Motor vehicle traffic can be reduced by promoting an urban lifestyle focused on degrowth that encourages community-based ways of living that conserve energy and nature by encouraging citizens to use them more widely.

The introduction of complementary currency schemes to mitigate heat islands is another response to the rising summer in Delhi.

Incentives such as a complementary monetary system where citizens helping to reduce heat impacts can use it to exchange goods and services to create a society with an optimal amount of heat impacts or heat islands.

In Belgium, Japan and Luxembourg, some of these currencies are being deployed in regional communities for environmental restoration, nature conservation projects and supporting future learning. Such experiments also extend to implementing green projects that can reduce the effects of heat in cities like Delhi.

While this may sound like fiction, a radical departure or fictional reality may be necessary to protect cities from future heat impacts. Covid-19 in the recent past saved nature from us for some time through this fictional reality that became truth for some time.

– Professor Anandajit Goswami is a Research Fellow at the International Foundation for Research and Education, the Ashoka Center for People-Centric Energy Transformation at Ashoka University, and the Director of the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the Manav Rachna International Institute for Research and Studies.