Need for the project: With India growing at the current rate of nearly nine percent there is no denying the fact that for India to continue her growth trajectory, it must meet the increasing energy demands of the future. At this critical juncture it is crucial for the Indian power sector to focus on demand side management (DSM) and renewable energy (RE) issues. While RE can provide cleaner energy source, DSM can mitigate energy shortages, improve utility revenues, quality and reliability of power supplied, and at the same time, cushion the impact of the rising tariffs. Hence, it is important to couple renewable energy awareness with demand side management.
West Bengal lies well below the national average in terms of share of Renewable Energy. Overall renewable energy potential stands at 10,000 MW but installed capacity currently remains at only 76 MW. The West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission (WBERC) currently mandates that 4% of the total energy has to be generated from renewable sources, which again has to be scaled up to 10% by 2011 – 12. . With extremely low awareness about RE & DSM amongst common consumers, collective consumer voice to advocate for greater thrust on this arena is almost non-existent. With this backdrop the project aims at
- Empowering consumer groups to carryout need based advocacy and participate in the associated policy, regulatory processes; and
- Raising awareness and capacity in issues pertaining to DSM/RE, so that the voice of the consumers reaches the policy makers for implementation.
About the project: CUTS with the support of Climate Works Foundation, USA through Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (SSEF), India is undertaking a project titled “A Diagnostic Study to Build the Capacity/Awareness among CSOs to demand for Demand Side Management & Renewable Energy in India (DREC Project)” in 2 states of India (Gujarat and West Bengal). In West Bengal the project is being implemented by CUTS Calcutta Resource Centre (CUTS CRC).
Overall Objective: Overall objective of the project is to build long-term capacity of consumer groups to demand for DSM and RE initiatives, and also to understand, document and communicate their specific needs to relevant policy makers.
For more information please