Optimising Gains from Emerging Energy Engagements

Abstract

The growing profile of India’s energy relations, outlined and analysed in the preceding chapters, reflects the energy security anxiety of the Indian state and its efforts to forge energy ties with leading energy players. However a closer scrutiny will reveal that most of these energy engagements have been defined in terms of secured supply that too of hydrocarbons, though chapters on India—US and Europe do spell out the growing nature of energy relations beyond oil and gas. Further most of these initiatives do not adequately reflect medium to long term concerns like diversifying energy mix, energy poverty, environmental consequences and research and development investment on energy technology. Certainly the issues do get reference in ongoing energy dialogues but not as part of a meta policy frame. In other words these relations are pegged to a fractured than integrated understanding of energy security captured in bilateral frame. It needs to be underlined here that unlike the seventies when energy security was bilateral project defined in terms of hydrocarbon particularly oil, today, it is global project with multidisciplinary concerns like availability, affordability and environment. Indian energy security policy thus has to factor and synergise all the three dimensions in the context of domestic drive to alleviate energy poverty and global commitment to restrict carbon emission. Its global energy engagement and relations with countries need to reflect these objectives in a defined framework. This obviously assumes conceptualisation of integrated energy security policy and its operationlisations in promoting energy relations with different countries to maximise the gains both in short and long term. This would demand framing of holistic domestic energy regime dovetailing with emerging global energy regime but safeguarding its freedom of action i.e. autonomy. In other words, India needs to conceive its global energy strategy as part of globalising interdependent energy transactions, as partner not mere consumer. Apparently the question could be raised as to how a energy deficit country could graduate? The answer is affirmative because global energy endowment and energy mix are increasingly being rediscovered by the innovation and energy technology revolution. India needs to peg for the partnership in the domain of energy technology revolution.