Tripura tops country in electric vehicle penetration: NITI Aayog

Guwahati: The State Energy & Climate Index-Round I report released by NITI Aayog earlier this week shows that Tripura has topped the country in electric vehicle (EV) penetration. The report said Tripura has taken appropriate steps to increase the proportion of consumers with smart meters and improve EV penetration.

Many initiatives have been announced to transform the Indian energy sector. Among them, the penetration of EVs into the automobile market, the availability of charging stations to facilitate charging of EVs, and the proportion of consumers who have installed smart meters have been taken as indicators.

With a score of 58.7, Tripura is the best performer in India in terms of the new initiative parameter.

The State Energy and Climate Index (SECI) is the first index that aims to track the efforts made by states and UTs in the climate and energy sector. These parameters have been devised keeping in mind India’s goals for climate change and clean energy transition.

The overall objective of the index is to develop healthy competition among the states to perform better and provide quality energy services to users in their states.

The New Initiatives parameter mentioned in the report consists of three indicators related to electric vehicle penetration, availability of charging infrastructure for the electric vehicle, and proportion of consumers with smart meters. After Tripura, Delhi and Assam are top-performing states/UTs in terms of highest electric vehicle (EV) penetration.

Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog said there is a need to convert our efforts towards achieving the ‘Panchamrit’ targets announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP-26, Glasgow into a peoples’ movement. “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,” he said.

The objectives of the index are- to rank the States based on their efforts towards improving energy access, energy consumption, energy efficiency, and safeguarding the environment; and to help drive the agenda of the affordable, accessible, efficient and clean energy transition at the State level; and encouraging healthy competition among the states on different dimensions of energy and climate.

Amitabh Kant, the CEO of NITI Aayog, said that achieving the ambitious climate targets would require a conducive policy environment to encourage investment. He also remarked that 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.

Overall, among the larger states, the top three performers are Gujarat, Kerala, and Punjab; and the bottom three performers are Jharkhand, MP and Chhattisgarh. Among the smaller states, Goa, Tripura, and Manipur are the top performers while Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh are the bottom three states. Among Union Territories Chandigarh, Delhi and D&D/D&N are the top three performers, and A&N, J&K and Lakshadweep are the bottom three performers.

“The state governments need to understand the importance of energy efficiency measures in their economic development path and embrace energy efficiency measures to avail energy saving, emissions reduction, etc. Most of the smaller states have less emission intensity

which is a good sign. Sikkim has scored highest in terms of energy intensity followed by Tripura, Mizoram, and Delhi,” the report says.

The State Energy & Climate Index (SECI) Round I ranks the states’ performance on 6 parameters, namely, (1) DISCOM’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.

Dr V.K Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, remarked that synergy and partnership among the Centre and the States would 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.

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