NITI Aayog has launched Geospatial Energy Map of India, which provides a holistic picture of all energy resources such as conventional power plants, oil and gas wells, petroleum refineries, coal fields and coal blocks.

Key points:

• In 2017, NITI Aayog signed an MoU with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to develop a comprehensive GIS-based Energy Map of India. It also got support from various ministries.

• The GIS map provides a holistic picture of all energy resources of the country which enables visualisation of energy installations such as conventional power plants, oil and gas wells, petroleum refineries, coal fields and coal blocks, district-wise data on renewable energy power plants and renewable energy resource potential, etc through 27 thematic layers.

• The map attempts to identify and locate all primary and secondary sources of energy and their transportation/transmission networks to provide a comprehensive view of energy production and distribution in a country.

• GIS-mapping of energy assets will be useful for ensuring real-time and integrated planning of the energy sector of India, given its large geographical distribution and interdependence.

• It may be useful for geospatial planning of resources. The planning may include infrastructure planning for upcoming solar parks, coal blocks, crude oil and natural gas pipelines, investment guidance for financial institutions, disaster management of possible energy disruption and emergency response, safety of energy assets due to harsh climatic conditions. 

• This may also help in resource and environmental conservation measures, inter-state coordination on infrastructure planning including different corridors of energy and road transport highway.

• India has opened up various aspects of energy exploitation (generation/ conversion/ transmission/ consumption) to the private sector. Energy markets have immense potential to bring in efficiency gains. Therefore, GIS-based mapping of energy assets will be advantageous to all concerned stakeholders and will help in accelerating the policy-making process.

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