Reshaping India’s energy future

In the second episode of our ‘Energy Transition Dialogues’ podcast series, we dive into an insightful discussion with Gaurav Moda, Partner and Energy Sector Leader, EY-Parthenon India, on India's evolving energy portfolio, the impact of technological advancements, and the strategic steps needed to accelerate this monumental shift. Tune in an enlightening conversation that helps us understand India's role in the global energy landscape.

Key takeaways

India's energy future includes widespread solar adoption, hydrogen fuel cells, and increased nuclear energy for sustainable growth.
Integration of green hydrogen will decarbonize to a large extent sectors such as transport, steel, cement, and fertilizers.
Partnerships, digital innovation, and an entrepreneurial mindset can accelerate India's energy transition effectively.

India's energy future hinges on innovation and collaboration to transform our energy landscape through solar, hydrogen, and advanced nuclear technologies.

Gaurav Moda

Partner and Energy Sector Leader, EY-Parthenon India

For your convenience, a full text transcript of this podcast is available on the link below:

Mohammad Saif: Welcome to the Energy Transition Dialogues. I am your host Mohammed Saif Partner in EY India. Today we have Gaurav Moda, who is EY India's energy sector lead with more than 20 years of work experience across Power and Utilities, as well as Energy sector. Gaurav has been at the forefront leading and contributing to India's transition in the energy sector. Welcome, Gaurav.

Gaurav Moda: Thank you, sir.

Mohammad Saif: So Gaurav, let us dive in immediately on one major query that we have been waiting to listen from you, is what do you think is the vision for India's energy portfolio going forward? Given so many things are happening not only in India, across the globe?

Gaurav Moda: Sure Sir. Well, I have spent two decades in this industry. For the last two years, COVID have been the most exciting. The sector is reshaping itself, and in that I have a vision of how India will reshape itself for the Energy sector and how India will engage with the world to reshape them, as well.

On India's side, there are five aspects that I see. The first is we have 70,000 plus petrol pumps across the country. I see them as no longer serving just petrol, diesel. I see them as serving burgers, pizzas, cold drinks for the future of us as consumers and why I see that is the second point. More than half of the transportation fuel in the country is diesel, and more than two third of that is used by trucks.

Mohammad Saif: Correct.

Gaurav Moda: Now imagine a future where hydrogen revolution gets connected with fuel cell, and all trucks of the country are running on fuel cell technology.

Mohammad Saif: Right.

Gaurav Moda: That is the second part of the future that I envision. The third part is solar. We talk so much about it, but I visualize a future where all roads are paved with solar, and all rooftops in the country have solar, and all the residential requirement of electricity are being met by solar percentage in parallel. What I also see is our commercial and industrial segment, which is essentially nothing of manufacturing, which drives the economy. I see nuclear as having a major role to play in our future vision. Having said that, the last part is equally important where if petrol diesel demand in future will stabilize. What do we do with the whole refining?

I visualize crude to chemical technology being utilized for the betterment of consumer consumption in the country. Petrochemicals take crude, convert into petrochemicals, and really foray for the middle class of the country. At the same amount of time, I see three more aspects where India will engage more with the world. The first aspect is where India imports more than -percent of its crude from the world. However, now we are looking at deep and ultra deep technologies to really scour our oceans and see where we can get all that crude for ourselves in the domestic market. At the same amount of time, we must contribute back to the world economy and the two ways to do that. India has one of the largest refining capacities with petchem added to that. We can be the refining and petchem hub for the region at the same amount of time. With the hydrogen revolution driving our transportation fuels and electricity. Hydrogen converted into green ammonia can serve more than a percentage of Europe's requirements.

Mohammad Saif: Why not?

Gaurav Moda: That is the future where India stands on its own and contributes to the world in a very different way. That is very, very insightful, Gaurav, but I have a question for you also Saif.

Mohammad Saif: Sure.

Gaurav Moda: You have been in the electricity sector for a long time. What is your thoughts on solar hydrogen?

Mohammad Saif: Well, thank you very much. I think I would resonate with what you are saying when it comes to solar. We have already seen that India has become a global superpower in terms of solar energy adoption. And what has been the major shift in the last one and a half years, as you really mentioned, is the usage of solar has grown from traditional generation for electricity usage and putting it into the grid to be used as number one for charging infrastructures and using it to convert transportation into electric vehicle. Apart from that use of, hydrogen, we are seeing that there would be a lot of electric vehicles also on the road. And I will just resonate again with your vision that, one day we will see that there will not be any carbon footprint from the transport industry or the whole.

Gaurav Moda: Why not? Exciting time.

Mohammad Saif: Second, again, just to add about the green hydrogen thing or the hydrogen thing where you think that hydrogen is going to play a major role, in transportation, I am also seeing green hydrogen playing a big role in decarbonizing the heart to abate sectors like steel, like cement, and even the fertilizer streams where ammonia, created through green hydrogen can actually play a big role in decarbonizing. So truly resonate with your vision. And I believe that these things happen very, very quickly. So, my next question relates to that.

What do you think can be done to make these things happen faster? more, quicker, more impactful than the pace that they are happening currently?

Gaurav Moda: Sure, sure. India is a land of entrepreneurs. We make our own future and there are five things that I believe can really help us reshape the future of energy. Being an entrepreneur country, first we need to start thinking energy share, energy market. Energy mix not power share or oil and gas share or retail share. Energy as a portfolio.

Second, we need to be ready for the future because the inflection point will come at some point there. Only people who are read can actually make the most of it, right? We have spoken about five plus three. Are we ready for those five plus three? This is a question. Third, we need to think partnership. We need to think ecosystem. Whether it is partnership for innovation by collaborating with other global markets and players or partnerships here in India with food players, restaurant players, retail players, auto OEMs, plus fourth, with the kind of peace and growth that we have.

We cannot survive only by thinking that we will do everything on our own on greenfield basis. There is a lot of momentum already built in the market, so we need to think inorganic.

We need to think how do we consolidate the space that we would master by bringing various pieces together and really scale that up? Mergers and acquisitions Inorganic is the way to go. And lastly, the digital revolution further driven by GenAI, ChatGPT AI as such is here to stay. But it is not about just experimentation. It has to add business value. What is the value realization? To digital is a question that we need to ask and drive that using future of digital. I think that is the five-stage mantra. I would leave it up.

Mohammad Saif: I think I am truly energized after listening to you. Gaurav, and I truly believe that the listeners also would be feeling the same. I resonate with the vision that you have put forward, and I believe that most of the Indian utilities they need to be nimble. As you rightly mentioned, they have to be for the changes that are happening, we know what is going to happen, but we cannot ignore that. And third, as you rightly said, we have to look at partnerships beyond whatever we are doing.

Gaurav Moda: Yes.

Mohammad Saif: So I thank you very much, Gaurav, for your insightful session and to the listeners. I believe that we are going to further deep dive into these sessions in the subsequent sessions of the recordings. Thank you so much again.

Gaurav Moda: Thank you.

Mohammad Saif: Thank you very much.

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Episode 02

Duration

9m 25s

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