‘We don’t believe in attacking others’ power grids’: Union power minister Raj Kumar Singh

Raj Kumar Singh, the two-time Lok Sabha member of Parliament from Arrah, Bihar, was recently elevated as a Union cabinet minister for the ministries of power and new and renewable energy. In an interview, Singh talked about new electricity distribution reforms and India’s growing position as a global climate leader.The Centre also plans to extend the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to electrolysers and an uniform electricity tariff is being examined for future green bids, he said. India will also take up the climate financing commitments made by developed nations at the Conference of the Parties (COP 26). Singh, a former home secretary and a 1975 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer, also termed cyberattacks on India’s power grid as an act of warfare. Edited excerpts:

When will the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021, be tabled in Parliament?

It has gone to the cabinet secretariat, which has to put it up before the cabinet. It is something that is necessary and something on which nobody can have cogent objections because, what are we saying? We are saying let’s delicense it. Why do we still have licensing in distribution? By doing so, you will open up the doors to competition. You have to decide whether the people exist to serve the discoms (distribution companies) or vice-versa. The discoms exist to serve the people, and the people deserve a choice. If you provide good service and if your pricing is better, you compete on price and service. Whosoever gives better service to the people will survive. That’s how it is. That’s how it should be. Nobody can have a right to monopoly.

India’s largest power generation utility NTPC Ltd is operating at a low plant load factor (PLF). Why is that so?

PLF for the entire system is 55-60%. That means that about 40% is not being scheduled, because we have installed capacity of 382 gigawatts (GW) against a maximum demand of 200GW. Basically, PLF of thermal power plants will remain around this level and may come down a bit because we are in the midst of an energy transition. It is a conscious transition and that has to be done in a sustainable manner. The transition is necessary for the environment and our government has a commitment to (protecting the) environment. We will be the first ones (in the world) to come out with large grid-scale green hydrogen manufacturing.

Will the PLI scheme be extended to electrolysers used for producing green hydrogen?

It is coming. That is my next proposal to the cabinet. It is getting drafted. We are bringing a scheme for electrolysers.

Will India raise the threats posed by Chinese hackers targeting our critical infrastructure, such as the power grid, on the global stage?

We are strengthening our cybersecurity mechanism. We are carrying out exercises to check the measures we have instituted to tackle cyberattacks and we are strengthening those measures. No country will accept that they are behind the cyberattacks. The attacks also followed a system of mirroring, or bouncing it of servers of other countries. But by and large we know from where it did happen and from where it is happening. We have a fair idea.

Are you also doing something?

I am not saying that. We don’t believe in attacking other people’s power systems. I am only saying this: that by and large people should desist from doing this.