India, UK likely to announce ‘green grid’ at COP26 summit

• India and the UK are likely to announce a joint declaration on “one sun, one world, one grid” — or OSOWOG at the upcoming Conference of Parties (COP26).
• The UN Climate Change Conference, or COP26, is scheduled to be held between 31st October and 12th November in Scotland.
• The concept of OSOWOG is what the British have called a green grid.
• The idea behind the concept is a trans-national electricity grid supplying solar power across the globe.

OSOWOG or the Green Grid:

• The vision behind the OSOWOG is ‘The Sun Never Sets’ and is a constant at some geographical location, globally, at any given point of time.
• This is by far one of the most ambitious schemes undertaken by any country (India) and is of global significance in terms of sharing economic benefits.
• It has been taken up under the technical assistance program of the World Bank.
• The OSOWOG plan may also leverage the International Solar Alliance (ISA), co-founded by India that has 80 countries as members.
• With India in the middle, the solar spectrum can easily be divided into two broad zones, which are:
• Far East including countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Lao, Cambodia etc.
• Far West covering the Middle East and the Africa Region.

Three Phases of the Plan:

• First Phase: It will entail interconnectivity within the Asian continent.
• Second Phase: It will add Africa.
• Third Phase: It is about global interconnection.

Significance of the Project:

• Help all the participating entities in attracting investments in renewable energy sources as well as utilizing skills, technology and finances.
• Lead to reduced project costs, higher efficiencies and increased asset utilization for all the participating entities.
• Resulting economic benefits would positively impact poverty alleviation and support in mitigating water, sanitation, food and other socio-economic challenges.
• Allow national renewable energy management centres in India to grow as regional and global management centres.
• This move, during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, gives India the opportunity to be seen as taking a lead in evolving global strategies.

Issues with the Project:

Geopolitics:

• The project is seen as an Indian endeavour for world leadership but under Covid-19 uncertainties, the geopolitical implications of projects like OSOWOG are hard to decipher.
• The mechanism of cost-sharing will be challenging, given the varied priorities of participating countries depending on their socio-economic orders.

Globalisation vs De-Globalisation:

• The OSOWOG will turn out to be an expensive, complex and very slow progress project.
• The strategic benefits, if any, of having a single grid will be obliterated in the wake of any geopolitical problem.
• In India, the major issue of renewable energy developers is to deal with different state governments and hence, different laws and regulations.
• Further, the project also contradicts the Prime Minister’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-dependent India) vision, as it extends the reliance for a major strategic entity, energy supply, to other countries through this grid.

Centralised vs Distributed Generation:

• There is a difference in voltage, frequency and specifications of the grid in most regions.
• Maintaining grid stability with just renewable generation would be technically difficult.