New Delhi, Aug 6 (IANS): Union Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R.K. Singh on Friday launched "Reform and regulatory knowledge base for power sector", an e-certification programme to provide regulatory training to practitioners from diverse backgrounds.

He also launched a regulatory data dashboard - an e-compendium of data containing state-wise details of tariffs and discom performance.

These have been developed by IIT Kanpur.

The regulatory data dashboard would assist benchmarking of the sector performance, over time and across the power sector utilities. This would help regulators and policy makers as well as the entities themselves to identify areas for improvement.

In his remarks on the occasion, Singh expressed his appreciation for the IIT Kanpur's initiative. He said that India is preparing itself for the next generation by modernisation, but the process of making the system sustainable is a work in progress. Challenges of energy access and supply have been resolved by establishing capacity generation making India a power surplus nation, he added.

Singh further said that they have established one grid for the country and one unified market for power, free from long-term PPAs, and steps are being taken for strengthening of distribution system.

He suggested that the full cost can be reflected in tariff and then the elected governments can provide a subsidy, based on it.

He emphasised that in the power sector, regulatory framework is the key to sustainability. Regulators exist to maintain a level playing field and at the same time to protect rights of the consumers. He urged that there is great scope for standardisation in regulatory framework by research.

The Power Minster added that deliberations of IIT Kanpur with regulators and states to lay down a protocol for forum of regulators would be of great service to the power sector. He urged further research and development in smart metering, AI based energy accounting and cyber security. "AI-based energy accounting has been mandated by us, and technologies need to make sense of the big data created from it," he added.

Singh also sought research and study in green hydrogen to be incorporated in not only the refining and the fertiliser industries, but in other industries such as steel, glass, ceramics, and heavy mobility. He said that transition from fossil fuels to green hydrogen is the need of the hour and green consciousness has already emerged in the industry but technology problems need to be resolved.