Energy Scenario and Policy Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Correct answer: 175 GWh

\[ 100\ \mathrm{MW} \times 8760\ \mathrm{h} \times 0.20 = 175{,}200\ \mathrm{MWh} = 175\ \mathrm{GWh}. \] The 876 GWh offered omits the capacity utilisation factor and assumes the plant runs flat out day and night, which no solar plant does - twenty per cent is about what a well-sited plant in India achieves.

Answer: B

Correct answer: 1-Q, 2-R, 3-P

Three instruments acting at three different points. The Energy Conservation Building Code sets requirements for the design of new commercial buildings, before anything is built. Standards and labelling act at the point of sale, so the buyer sees the efficiency of an appliance when choosing it. The renewable purchase obligation acts on the licensee’s procurement, fixing the share of renewable energy it must buy.

Answer: C

Correct answer: 1-Q, 2-R, 3-P

Two loss measures and one utilisation measure. Transmission and distribution loss compares energy sent out with energy sold. The aggregate technical and commercial figure compares energy sent out with revenue actually realised, so it captures billing and collection failure as well. Plant load factor is unrelated to either: it compares energy generated with what the capacity could have produced.

Answer: D

Demand avoided needs nothing built to serve it, efficiency then reduces what remains, renewable supply serves that, and recovery picks up what escapes. Working the order backwards is how expensive capacity comes to serve avoidable load.

Answer: A

Correct answer: 1 and 2 only are correct

Statements 1 and 2 are correct: coal supplies the largest share of generation, and import dependence is highest for crude oil, of which India imports well over four fifths. Statement 3 is wrong and by a wide margin - Indian per capita electricity consumption is roughly a third of the world average, which is the central fact behind the country’s projected demand growth.

Answer: B

Correct answer: petrol

Petrol is a secondary energy form: it is refined from crude oil, so it is a carrier rather than a source. Coal, crude oil and solar radiation are all primary, being found in nature and not derived from any other form. Electricity is secondary for the same reason, which matters when energy balances are drawn up - counting both a primary source and the carrier made from it would double count.

Answer: C

A shift from manufacturing toward services improves the ratio without a single measure having been implemented, so the two effects must be separated before credit is claimed. Decomposing the change into structural and intensity components is the standard technique.

Answer: D

The aggregate measure includes the transmission and distribution loss and adds the failure to collect, so it can never be smaller. A reported figure of that shape indicates an error in the computation or in the definitions used.

Answer: A

With a fifth of the sent-out energy lost on the way, a unit not taken at the meter displaces about 1.25 units at the station, and the capacity to generate them need not be built. That avoided loss is precisely why the saved unit is worth the more.

Answer: B

Both are in megawatts, which is what makes the comparison tempting, but a solar megawatt yields about a fifth of a coal megawatt's annual energy. Comparing the energy generated, or applying a capacity utilisation factor, is the only sound method.