Prayas (Energy Group) is an Indian research and analysis organisation working in the area of

energy policy Energy policies are the government's strategies and decisions regarding the Energy production, production, Energy distribution, distribution, and World energy supply and consumption, consumption of energy within a specific jurisdiction. Energy ...

. It is part of a non-governmental charitable trust called Prayas (long name is ''Initiatives in Health, Energy and Parenthood'') located in

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The aim of Prayas is to make energy a tool for sustainable and

equitable development Social development theory attempts to explain qualitative changes in the structure and framework of society, that help the society to better realize aims and objectives. Development can be defined in a manner applicable to all societies at all h ...

for all citizens, by analysis, discourse building, policy and regulatory engagements and collaboration with other civil society organisations.

History

Prayas was founded in 1994 by three professionals - two doctors and an engineer – with the aim of using professional skills to promote public interest, including that of disadvantaged sections of the society and of the environment. Prayas has four groups working on different sectors - health, energy, resources & livelihoods, and learning & parenthood.

Girish Sant Girish Sant was a noted energy analyst held in high esteem as an energy policy commentator from India. He co-founded the non-governmental organisation Prayas in Pune, India. His analytical inputs helped shape India's energy policy over the decad ...

, an energy systems engineer, was the founder coordinator of Prayas. After he died in 2012, Shantanu Dixit became the group coordinator. Prayas’s first activities were in the area of renewable energy and

energy efficiency Energy efficiency may refer to: * Energy efficiency (physics), the ratio between the useful output and input of an energy conversion process ** Electrical efficiency, useful power output per electrical power consumed ** Mechanical efficiency, a rat ...

. It later took up studies on the socioeconomic impacts of projects such as

Dabhol Power Station Dabhol Power Station is located near Anjanwel village in Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra, India, about south of Mumbai. The power station was built by the Dabhol Power Company (DPC), which was a joint venture of Enron International, General E ...

promoted by

Enron Enron Corporation was an American Energy development, energy, Commodity, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both re ...

. With the advent of reforms in the Indian electricity sector, Prayas published reports on electricity and related energy sectors.

Areas of work

Prayas works on governance, regulation and policy related aspects of electricity and energy sectors. There are four major areas of work, namely: Electricity generation & supply, Energy efficiency, Renewable energy and Energy, resources & development. It covers many Indian states and national issues. There are also a few international initiatives, undertaken with collaboration with other organisations. These include analysis of Bujagali hydro power project in Uganda, Electricity Governance Initiative and Electricity Supply Monitoring Initiative.

Outputs

Work outputs of Prayas include reports, guides and regulatory or policy submissions, all of which are available on its website. Some major outputs are, Analysis of Enron- Dabhol power project, Survey of Electricity Regulatory Commissions, Primer on Electricity, Solar Roof-Top Photovoltaics (PV) in India, Activist Guide for better electricity service, Challenges before the Indian Coal Sector and Energy Requirement for decent living. Prayas's outputs include newspaper articles on topics like Solar Options for Agriculture, Energy Efficiency and Clean Cooking Challenges. There are also presentations/interviews on topics like India energy challenges, Energy policy, and Indian energy sector trends. Prayas is a member of several official committees at the Central and State levels and has been knowledge partner to Central Government institutions such as

NITI Aayog The NITI Aayog (; abbreviation for National Institution for Transforming India) serves as the apex public policy think tank of the Government of the Republic of India, and the nodal agency tasked with catalyzing economic development, and foste ...

. Various commentators and reviewers have noted that the work of Prayas has contributed to improving governance and policy in the energy sector.

References

{{reflist

External links

*A Study of Prayas o
Survey of Electricity Regulatory Commissions
*A Prayas Publication

*A policy discussion paper by Prayas o

Solar Options for AgricultureEnergy Efficiency

Clean Cooking ChallengesIndia Energy ChallengesEnergy Policy

Indian Energy Sector Trends
Energy in India Organisations based in Pune Organizations established in 1994 1994 establishments in Maharashtra