Meghalaya continues to be placed in lower positions in national rankings. This time, the State fared poorly among states in the country as far as the ranking on energy efficiency is concerned.
Meghalaya was ranked at the seventh spot among smaller states of the country in the State Energy & Climate Index Round I. The index was released by NITI Aayog today.
The State Energy & Climate Index Round I ranks the states’ performance on six parameters – (1) discoms’s performance, (2) access, affordability and reliability of energy (3) clean energy initiatives (4) energy efficiency (5) environmental sustainability; and (6) new initiatives. The parameters are further divided into 27 indicators. Based on the composite Round I score, the states and union territories are categorised into three groups: Front Runners, Achievers, and Aspirants.
Goa (51.4 points), emerged as the top-performing state in the smaller states category, followed by Tripura (45.0 points), and Manipur (36.0 points).
Meghalaya was ranked at the seventh spot in this category with a total score of 29.4 points among the eight smaller states.
In terms of Discoms’ performance, Meghalaya scored 47.9 points. In access, affordability and reliability of energy, the State scored 30.9 points. In clean energy initiatives, it scored only 1.9 points.
In energy efficiency, Meghalaya scored only 4 points. In environmental sustainability, the State scored 39.8 points while in new initiatives, it scored only 2.8 points.
Gujarat (50.1 points), Kerala (49.1 points), and Punjab (48.6 points) have been ranked as the top three performers in the category of larger states. 20 states are in this category.
Among the seven union territories, Chandigarh (55.7 points), Delhi (55.6 points), and Daman & Diu/Dadra & Nagar Haveli (53.2 points) are the top performers.
The State Energy & Climate Index-Round I report was released today by the NITI Aayog at an event chaired by Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog.
Dr. V.K Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Alok Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Power and Additional Secretary(Energy), NITI Aayog were also present during the occasion.
This edition of the report reveals that some of the important data is not available at the state level. There is a need to develop a robust mechanism for capturing such data so that it can be incorporated in future editions of the report.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog said that there is a need to convert our efforts towards achieving the targets announced by India at COP-26, Glasgow.
“In order to do this, the role of the states is going to be critical. Governance innovation and mutual learning by states shall go a long way in improving outcomes and SECI Round I is the right step in this direction,” Kumar said.
Dr. V K Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, remarked that synergy and partnership among the Centre and the states will be critical for achieving energy and climate-related goals and making the country self-reliant in the energy sector. He said that after extensive discussions with stakeholders, several key parameters have been identified to track and rank the performance of the states in this report.
Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog said that achieving the ambitious climate targets would require a conducive policy environment to encourage investment.
“The State Energy & Climate Index Round-I will help initiate a dialogue with the states on the energy sector so that much required policy improvements can be made,” he said.
Alok Kumar, Secretary, Power Ministry appreciated the work taken up by NITI Aayog for coming out with the State Energy & Climate Index. He stressed that clean energy transition is inevitable and the role of distribution companies (Discoms) is paramount and their viability is the crux. He pointed out that regulatory assets at the same time need to be liquidated which is making discoms unviable.
