Background

About 4 million people die prematurely from diseases caused by household air pollution, primarily from cooking with firewood, charcoal and biomass. As of 2019, 63% rural and 18% urban households in India use firewood, dung cakes or biomass for cooking. According to a study by World Resources Institute (WRI), while the average PM2.5 in rural India is in the rage of 22 to 112 μg/m³, the indoor PM2.5 concentration ranges from 106 to 512 μg/m³. This explains why 600,000 people died of household air pollution in 2019 in India. The situation is similar in most developing countries around the world.

Having electrified almost all households in the country and with surplus electricity generation capacity, India should actively promote electric cooking. Increasingly higher share of electricity is being produced from renewable resources and during many time slots in a day, cheap electricity is available on the grid. In the year 2018-19, 1500 million LPG cylinders were distributed in India which is not sustainable from the perspective of cost and energy efficiency. New city gas distribution networks cost INR 25,000 (USD 335) per connection. In order to meet the NDC targets it is imperative that emissions from the kitchen must be reduced drastically. Electric cooking is the fastest and least cost route to achieve these multiple targets which will also reduce LPG imports saving billions of dollars.

Ministry of Power, Government of India recently launched a new program “GO ELECTRIC” which has two components – Electric Vehicles and Electric Cooking. This Side Event Workshop will examine and recommend the way forward to promote electric cooking in India and other developing countries.

Objectives

  1. To advocate for appropriate policies to promote electric cooking amongst households having no access to clean cooking fuels that will improve the health of people particularly women and children, reduce emissions from millions of kitchens, reduce deforestation and improve the business case of electric utilities
  2. To identify the barriers in moving to electric cooking in rural and semi-urban areas – poor state of electric grid and unreliable electricity supply, availability of electric cooking appliances locally, maintenance support for appliances, cultural and mental barriers
  3. To educate electric utilities to actively promote electric cooking and
  4. To discuss the environmental benefits from electric cooking by reducing GHG emissions and avoiding deforestation
  5. To discuss different strategies for promotion of electric cooking and campaigns for consumer awareness and adoption of electric cooking appliances and practices
  6. To discuss leveraging renewable energy for electric cooking and integration of cooking appliances with the grid – smart cooking with green electricity bought from the cheapest resource on the grid

Agenda

Session Agenda: 17th June 2021 | 20.00 to 21.30 Manila Time | 17.30 to 19.00 India Time

Time (Manila) Session Details
08:00-08:15 p.m. Welcome Address and Context Setting
08:15-08:45 p.m. Session 1: Introduction to Electric Cooking and Theme Presentation

Presentation

08:45-09:20 p.m. Session 2: Panel Discussion on Challenges in Transition to Electric Cooking in Developing Countries

  • Grid upgrades (>3kW connections in households) and reliable supply of electricity
  • Availability of appropriate appliances
  • Life style changes – cooking habits
  • Presentation

09:20-09:30 p.m. Closing Remarks and Vote of Thanks

Learn More about Speakers

About Organizers

India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF)

The India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF) is a public private partnership initiative of Govt. of India with the mandate of accelerating smart grid deployments across the country. With 170+ members comprising of ministries, utilities, technology providers, academia and research, ISGF has evolved as a Think-Tank of global repute on Smart Energy and Smart Cities. Mandate of ISGF is to accelerate energy transition through clean energy, electric grid modernization and electric mobility; work with national and international agencies in standards development and help utilities, regulators and the Industry in technology selection, training and capacity building.

Global Smart Energy Federation (GSGF)

The Global Smart Energy Federation (GSEF), formerly known as Global Smart Grid Federation (GSGF), is a global stakeholder organization committed to creating smarter, cleaner electrical systems around the world and is comprised of national smart grid associations, forward-looking utilities, and think tanks from around the globe working in the energy transition and clean transportation. GSEF brings together the intellectual capital of smart energy stakeholders from around the world to help member organizations initiate changes to their countries’ energy systems to enhance security, increase flexibility, reduce emissions, and maintain affordability, reliability, and accessibility to clean energy and promote clean transportation.

Point of Contact

Reena Suri, ISGF
Email: Reena.Suri@indiasmartgrid.org