Spatial Dynamics of Electricity Usage in India
India's manufacturing sector has undergone many spatial adjustments since 1989, including, for example, the organized sector's migration to rural locations, the powerful rise of informal manufacturing within cities, and the development of...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank Group, Washington, DC
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/10/20270207/spatial-dynamics-electricity-usage-india http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20504 |
| Summary: | India's manufacturing sector has
undergone many spatial adjustments since 1989, including,
for example, the organized sector's migration to rural
locations, the powerful rise of informal manufacturing
within cities, and the development of intermediate cities
for manufacturing. This paper investigates the impact of
these spatial adjustments for electricity usage in India s
manufacturing sector. Striking spatial differences in energy
usage exist, and whether spatial adjustments exacerbate or
alleviate energy consumption strains is important for issues
ranging from reducing India's power blackouts to
stemming rising pollution levels. Using detailed surveys for
the organized and unorganized sectors, the analysis finds
that electricity usage per unit of output in urban plants
declined steadily during 1989-2010. In the rural areas, by
contrast, electricity consumption per unit of output for
organized sector plants peaked in 2000 and thereafter
declined. Decomposing the observed trends in aggregate
electricity usage from 2000 onwards, the paper finds that
most reductions in electricity usage per unit of output came
from reductions in existing sites of activity (defined
through state-industry-urban/rural cells). The second
biggest factor leading to reduced usage was lower usage in
fast-growing sectors. By contrast, spatial movements of
manufacturing activity across India did not significantly
change usage levels and may have even increased them. This
appears to have been in part because of the split nature of
the mobility, with organized and unorganized sectors
migrating in opposite directions. |
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