Reportage on a planet without equitable or sustainable development.
Energy Transition #1. A supplier of energy?
Over the last two months, I have been trying to better understand the looming energy transition — and the prospects it holds for India.
You know the backstory. In the run-up to COP26, chatter about Net Zero has peaked. So has talk about decarbonisation. We know the energy transition will reshape the world. Some countries and companies will fashion fresh competitive advantages for themselves. Some will emerge as the new suppliers of energy — or the technologies that produce it. Some will transition faster to the new energy systems. They too will gain.
How is India placed within this larger flux? Where are we headed?
Out today, the first part of our report. It looks at our capacity to become a supplier. We look at a realm where companies /countries are still grappling for dominance. Hydrogen.
By the end of this report, it was clear to me that we are laggards in terms of developing hydrogen tech, and that our rising solar costs will make it harder for us to produce cheap hydrogen. We have, however, a chance in the race for making cheap electrolysers.
I am an Indian journalist with interests in energy, environment, climate and India’s ongoing slide into right-wing authoritarianism. My book, Despite the State, an examination of pervasive state failure and democratic decay in India, was published by Westland Publications, India, in January 2021. My work has won the Bala Kailasam Memorial Award; the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award; five Shriram Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism; and, more recently, been a finalist at the True Story Award and GIJN’s Global Shining Light Awards. Write to me at despitethestate@protonmail.com.
“Westland closure: Titles that are selling fast and a few personal recommendations,” by Chetana Divya Vasudev, Moneycontrol. (Because this happened too. In February, a year after DtS was released, Amazon decided to shutter Westland, which published the book. The announcement saw folks rushing to buy copies of Westland books before stocks run out.)
Fractured/Earth 
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