Regulations and incentive policy framework for district energy system development: An analysis in India

This chapter describes the findings and recommendations of rapid assessment on regulation and policy in India to integrate district energy under UNEP’’s District Energy in Cities Initiative. The district energy systems, including district heating and cooling systems, have been considered a cost-effective way to increase energy efficiency and reduce air pollution at the city level. The initiative started its demonstration of district cooling in India by selecting five pilot cities in 2017. The rapid assessments for these cities include analysis of nation-wide cross-sector policy and city-level regulation and policy framework. In this chapter, not only the main barriers of policy and regulations are highlighted, but also recommendations for incentive policies are concluded.