The mobile phone revolution in India has been truly astounding. Annual growth rates are often close to 50% . From a negligible subscriber base in the late nineties, the total at the end of June 2008 stood at approximately 280 million. This phenomenal growth has happened due to the lining up of several stars - a large population, tariff driven down by competition, a huge pent-up demand due to a very meager landline subscriber-base and, perhaps most importantly, the inherent nature of cellular telephony that requires relatively modest physical infrastructure and thereafter depends on dematerialized radio-waves.
Power distribution, unfortunately, is not like that.
While there seems to be a lot of momentum in the capacity enhancement space, is there a grid to bring that capacity to demand's doorstep? A New York Times article from earlier this week, about wind-power generation running up against distribution choke-points, got me thinking about this issue.
Which makes me wonder therefore, is India a natural case for a de-centralized grid. Is there something about the way things are right now, that would lend power generation and distribution to follow the old Gandhian logic of local self-sufficiency? If so, could that be politically divisive in the long run? Or could there be a patchwork of power grids that straddle political boundaries, thereby adding one more layer of interdependency between regions?
1 comment:
What about other networked infrastructure - e.g., piped drinking water and sewage - two things that have held back millions in India. And then there are roads? Is there a decentralized grid logic for these as well?
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