Mar 18, 2021
This study aims to reveal the status quo and future trend of thermoelectric water use and water stress in India. We compiled a bottom-up geo-database for all thermal power plants in India and identified the type of cooling technology used. We then estimated thermoelectric water withdrawal and water consumption in India from 2009 to 2018 and projected future trends in thermoelectric water use up to 2027 using the integrated power planning and dispatch model, SWITCH-India. Results show that thermoelectric power generation in India is not a major source of water stress in most basins until 2027. Freshwater withdrawal varied from 14 to 16 billion m3 during the study period, while freshwater consumption increased with growing thermal power generation. The catchment in the middle of the Ganga River basin has the largest freshwater withdrawal and consumption. The volume of water withdrawal accounts for less than 1% of blue water availability in most catchments. It is also likely that a larger proportion of power generation and water withdrawal will occur in catchments that are under lower water stress in the future. Policy interventions should target stressed catchment areas and improve the resilience of thermal power plants to outages due to water stress.
Feb 11, 2021
Off-grid electric systems powered by renewable sources are appealing because they could reduce energy poverty in a sustainable manner. Yet their deployment has been uneven. In this article, I argue that the deployment of such technology pre-requires effective institutions. This is because the off-grid power industry faces two problems: governments (who may reverse policies on short notice) and customers (who may fail to pay their bills). More democratic regimes, which tend to uphold the rule of law, can mitigate these risks and facilitate long-term investments. Empirically, I show that countries that are democratic deployed considerably more off-grid renewable energy capacity. An increase in the democratic score by one standard deviation leads to an increase in deployed capacity by 40% (95% CI: [20%, 63%]). Further, I show that this effect operates through supply-side institutions, such as the protection of the rule of law. I find little evidence for a competing interpretation of my main results based on the demand side: democracies do not provide more off-grid power in countries with stronger demand for it. These results suggest that institutions are a prerequisite for a successful growth of the off-grid renewable energy industry and raise concerns over the ability of its technologies to penetrate the most destitute regions.
Jan 21, 2021
Does political alignment at different levels of government influence centralized bureaucratic processes? Environmental clearances are important regulatory tools that allow governments to target the distribution of public goods/bads by both controlling negative externalities and allocating rents from project developers. While commentators advocate for central authorities to control environmental licensing of major projects, in emerging markets with weak formal institutions it is still possible for local politicians to influence this process. We use data on environmental clearances in India for thermal (primarily coal-fired) power plants between the years 2004-2014 to test whether local legislators influence an otherwise bureaucratic process in which they play no formal role. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that partisan alignment with the state chief minister results in a sharp increase in local clearance applications. This is consistent with the hypothesis that this type of political influence “greases the wheels” of bureaucracy by facilitating more environmental approvals, rather than creating regulatory bottlenecks. Our results contribute to a growing literature that suggests that lower-level politicians can still exert influence on the policy process despite having few institutionalized powers.
Jan 4, 2021
In many developing countries, theft remains a significant obstacle to ensuring proper public service provision and access. We argue that social acceptability of theft constitutes an understudied barrier to curbing power theft. Using a conjoint experiment, we study perceptions of theft in the form of using illegal wires, katiya, among rural and urban households in Uttar Pradesh, India (n = 1800). Social acceptability of theft is influenced by the income and electricity supply quality contexts of offenders. For a 1000-rupee (approx. 15 USD) income difference between hypothetical vignette agents, the odds of choosing a higher acceptability rating for an offender increases by 11%. One fewer hour of electricity supply received by the vignette person would increase the acceptability of their theft activity by 4%. The majority of respondents chose a warning as the appropriate punishment severity; income and supply quality distinguishes the odds of choosing higher punishment categories. While there exists a sense of social reprimand for stealing power, desired punishment is nuanced and context-dependent.
Oct 14, 2020
Indian internal migration is among the highest in the world, with 30% of the population migrating, often for work. Such population movement can alleviate poverty and reduce forest degradation. However, estimates of this double dividend are scarce. We estimate the potential of internal migration to alleviate poverty by exploring migrant characteristics and their investments. We then evaluate whether there are short-term benefits for Central Indian forests by assessing the relationship between migration and changes in forest use over a 5-year timespan. Finally, we study the village-level association between forest degradation and the proportion of migrating households in the village. We show that internal migration has the potential to alleviate poverty. On the other hand, migration does not reduce forest degradation in such a short term.
