The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas(MoPNG) has set up the Energy Transition Advisory Committee(ETAC) headed by the former petroleum secretary Tarun Kapoor, who resigned from the office, to draft the strategy.
Background:
The Government of India has been planning to come up with an energy transition roadmap for the oil and gas sector to enhance India’s efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070.
Energy Transition Advisory Committee:
The committee tasked to prepare a step-by-step plan for complete transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy has been given 6 months (middle of 2022) time to prepare and submit the roadmap.
Members:
i.The advisory committee will consist of Joint Secretary level officers from MoPNG and representatives of all public-sector oil and gas companies
ii.The nominee from IOCL shall function as Member-Secretary of the Committee and secretarial assistance.
iii.The Committee may co-opt experts in the areas of the energy transition as members or to provide assistance as invitees.
Functions of the Advisory Committee:
i.The committee will work on the harmonised transition plans for the oil companies and will also prepare the transition away from fossil fuels in the Transport sector.
ii.The committee will also focus on scaling up infrastructure for biofuels based on a sustainable biomass supply chain. This will play a major role in the transition away from fossil fuels in the Transport sector.
iii.The focus area of the committee includes Green Hydrogen, which has been identified as the priority.
iv.The committee will also focus on value chain development for green hydrogen infrastructure.
Additional info:
i.The oil companies have been preparing their respective plans to increase their clean energy portfolio and set net-zero targets.
ii.The committee will review and consider the existing initiatives while developing an action plan.
iii.The Transition planning needs the oil companies to draw up a road map for their downstream operations which is expected to be featured in the road map recommendations of the committee.
iv.In line with the transition plan, Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum have announced plans to set up a combined 22,000 Electric Vehicle(EV), charging stations.
Recent Related News:
The Ministry of Coal(MoC) constituted a Task Force under the Chairmanship of Vinod Kumar Tiwari, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Coal and the Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of R.K Malhotra, Director General of the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry.
Objective– Contribution in Hydrogen Economy in a clean manner.
About Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas(MoPNG):
Union Minister– Hardeep Singh Puri(Rajya Sabha- Uttar Pradesh)
Minister of State– Rameswar Teli(Constituency- Dibrugarh, Assam)
