Rajasthan ranks 2nd after Karnataka on State Energy Efficiency Index 2020

Rajasthan has ranked second after Karnataka on the State Energy Efficiency Index (SEEI) 2020 released by the Union Ministry of Power, an official said on Wednesday.

The state has registered 61 points, which is a tremendous rise from the score of 18.5 in the previous year’s SEEI 2019.

In the previous year’s rankings, none of the states had qualified in the frontrunner category. However, this year, Rajasthan showing the highest improvement became the second state only after Karnataka to be included in the category, Additional Chief Secretary (Power) Subodh Agarwal said in a statement.

He added that it is a major leap for Rajasthan and has been possible due to the focused approach and policy initiatives of the state government. The Solar Energy Policy 2019 and the Wind and Hybrid Energy Policy 2019 have emerged as major facilitators to harness the natural advantage Rajasthan holds in the renewable energy sector.

The SEEI assesses the states in four categories — Aspirant (with a score below 30 points), Contenders (with a score in the range of 30-50), Achievers (with a score of 50-60) and the Frontrunners (with above 60 points score).

The SEEI 2020 has assessed the performance of 36 states and Union Territories in energy efficiency (EE) using 68 qualitative, quantitative, and outcome-based indicators aggregating to a maximum score of 100 across six sectors. Rajasthan has been the state to show the maximum improvement.