Member Spotlight: Scetti

We are thrilled to have The State Clean Electricity Transition Tracker India (Scetti) in our cohort this year! Scetti is a tracker dashboard that effectively collates data on each State’s technical, financial, and policy data into one verified resource to accelerate a transition from coal.

Scetti is the first tool of its kind to aggregate these data sources into one platform to enable a smooth transition into renewable energy. It allows a high-level analysis of critical data to inform policy change. In this blog, we discuss how Scetti was formed and the current energy setting in India and what Scetti can do to transform a more effective transition to clean energy. 

1.Tell us a bit about your background and how the team at Scetti was formed.

We are a team of lawyers, data scientists, system thinkers, web developers, and UX designers interested in the clean energy transition. We began ideating about Scetti because we were really disturbed by the fact that around 72% of India’s electricity generation comes from coal.

We did not really see any radical efforts being made to allow for a successful transition away from coal. The electricity framework in India suffers from a disparate data ecosystem because there is a gap between evidence and policies. Also, the data is scattered across government and public resources, and policies are generally presented in silos, independent of the data that is publically available. This is also why we thought it was difficult for policymakers, organisations, and individuals to analyse existing policies that affect and influence future actions in the energy context, which prevented them from effective decision-making. 

Scetti emerged from the Subak fellowship that was awarded to one of our team members, Abhayraj Naik. The Scetti team was then formed by Abhayraj who is a Bangalore-based activist, educator and community builder, and systems practitioner who focuses on ecology, education, technology, and transformation.

Aiswarya Murali joined Abhayraj as a collaborator for the Subak Fellowship and then eventually helped in building it. Aiswarya is an incoming Master of Law student who is interested in climate justice, systemic transformation, just energy transition, and building urban resilience to climate change.

Over time, our team grew bigger as our data scientist Ambar Nag who is interested in helping non-profits and promoting open data joined, followed by Ashwin Murthy who is a corporate lawyer, specialising in energy law, and also an incoming student Master of Law student. Finally, our core team was complete with Atreyo Banerjee joining the team. He is also a lawyer and works with a non-profit organisation that improves systems of law and justice. We also have web developers, UX designers, data analysts, and researchers working alongside on a contractual basis in building and scaling Scetti. 

2.What data does the Scetti tracker compile?

Scetti weaves together technical, financial, and policy data to present a holistic story of electricity in India. We have summarised and categorised over 300 policies and technical data which is spread over 36 states and union territories in India. We have categorised this into three nodes, the first is access, the second is financial health and the third is environmental impact. 

Scetti facilitates climate mitigation through its robust, open climate data and this makes the data accessible and connects it to the corresponding policy data. Our platform essentially unravels policy opportunities for a just and fair transition away from fossil fuel-generated electricity. 

3.What are the aspirations for the Scetti dashboard to achieve?

We have several aspirations! The primary goal is to get into the heart of India’s transition story which would lead to evidence-based decision-making. We also plan to release reports, insights, and representation of data and we plan to collaborate with other players in the area of energy transition to contribute to a just zero carbon world. 

As of now, we have broadly planned four aspirations. First, we want to increase our outreach through extensive marketing, increasing our reach, and visibility, including approaching newspapers and media outlets. Second, we also plan to have some actionable insights to track policies, targets, and goals of states for their energy transition that also includes some sort of comparison between states. We want to transform existing data into a more qualitative nature to allow for more actionable insights for policymakers.

Third, we want to scale and streamline our data collection through data automation that retains it as robust datasets. Finally, we want to provide a narrative by making it more accessible, engaging educational institutions, and utilising innovative approaches, for instance, comic strips to increase interest, engagement, and accessibility. 

4.What are the major trends you are currently seeing in India when it comes to electricity transition?

India is actually grappling with a lot of challenges. It is attempting to catch up with its exponential growth in electricity demand. However, we do see steady growth when it comes to wind and solar energy capacity in several states. At the same time, there is a high and increasing amount of reliance on energy generated from fossil fuels. 

We see that states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Rajasthan are showing a very strong commitment to a clean energy transition however states which are located on the “so-called” coal belt of India, that is Jharkhand, Bihar, and West Bengal, continue to perform very poorly when it comes to clean energy transition.

We see a very similar trend for policies as well with some states making great progress and great strides while some other states are stuck with decade-old policies. For instance, states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh have robust policies to facilitate clean energy transition whereas states like West Bengal, Orissa, and Jharkhand lack such policies. The Jharkhand Power Policy, 2018 even supports the expansion of thermal power plants. 

There is a need for uniform growth across the country and running a comparative analysis between the states like what Scetti provides. This will help states in locating themselves and even in determining whether they are way behind or on track in the race to a clean energy transition. 

5.What major barriers are you facing for a successful renewable transition in India?

India’s path to a renewable energy transition is fraught with challenges. While India strives to achieve net zero carbon emissions, it continues to heavily rely on coal which is the largest carbon-emitting fossil fuel on Earth. So there is a mismatch in terms of the climate pledges that India is making and its developmental aspirations. Added to this are the climatic goals and energy needs of different states and union territories which don’t align with the national goals. 

Here it is important for us to acknowledge that India is a diverse nation with a large number of rich resources and multitudes of geographical and political landscapes which is also the challenge when it comes to energy transition. The context of each state and union territory is so different from other states and union territories. India is also a quasi-federal country which means that the state governments have a say when it comes to laws and policies related to energy. This has led to different levels of efforts in the transition to clean sources of energy for different states. 

We can actually notice a stark difference between the states and can make this comparison on the Scetti dashboard. We can see that Karnataka is a leader in clean energy whereas a state like Bihar is lagging far behind and relying heavily on coal. When you even take policies and political commitments to clean energy, there is still a lack of consistency among the states. 

This whole socio-political scenario is coupled with the lack of robust and transparent data for states to make evidence-based decision-making. The availability of data in a concise and organised manner is essentially the biggest challenge for a group like ours. Data currently is scattered across the internet in a very unstructured format and sometimes the same data from different sources conflict and contradict which is a major challenge for data collection. 

There is finally the challenge of making the transition a just transition. There’s a need to make power available cheaply which is really a challenge for a developing country like India. 

So what we propose is a multi-dimensional effort from each state with a uniform alignment of state climatic goals with the national goals and a commitment to its international promises to ensure decarbonisation and transition to clean energy. Scetti provides the support that the states require by facilitating targeted policymaking and bridging the gap between policy uncertainty and policy opportunities. 

6.Finally, what has been the best outcome so far of joining the Subak ecosystem?

I would say the best outcome so far of joining the Subak ecosystem has been the space and the support that Scetti has received to experiment, explore and evolve. 

The Subak ecosystem has been crucial for its development to its current form. Subak has provided us with the opportunity to think through well-defined avenues because we had to commit to tangible milestones during the Subak Fellowship as well as the Accelerator Program. I would say that the Subak Australia Accelerator Program has fine-tuned the work of Scetti and it has provided Scetti with a foundation of an organisational structure and even helped us to continue to harness our roles and responsibilities, by focusing on the four pillars of business, technology, data, and impact. In hindsight, we have realised it is absolutely pivotal for any climate tech organisation to address these pillars. 

Subak has also provided us with some exceptional mentors. We wish to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for the wonderful mentorship we have received. Subak has been a true powerhouse for Scetti and has driven Scetti’s work so far! I would like to thank Rockyath and Lily, both have provided Scetti with the individual attention that we require and always catered to our requests, ensuring that we have the support we need. And of course, Louise who has been our primary go-to mentor. She unwaiveringly believed in our potential and helped us resolve even internal differences which has been quite challenging for us as a team. She has also helped us structure and formulate our impact narrative and strategies to scale. We also want to thank Isaac for the sessions on sustainable financing.

These sessions have been truly transformational! He has also helped us navigate fundraising strategies and financial planning for Scetti. Thanks to Jake and Chris in the Subak UK team, who have opened up new paths to integrate fresh sets of data and help us in having efficacious technology in place.

Finally, the Subak Accelerator program has provided a platform for Scetti to network and engage with big players in the energy and climate sectors!