Renewable energy: Helping India emerge a world leader in the energy transition

Addressing the conference of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on “Aatmairbhar Bharat- Self Reliance for Renewable Energy Manufacturing”, Union Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy, R K Singh said that India had emerged as a world leader in the energy transition. Piyush Goyal, the Minister for Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution, also expressed his high hopes for India as a leader in the area of renewable energy in the years to come.

India: The emerging leader in Energy Transition

India grew at one of the fastest rates in renewable energy capacity in the world. In the country, the renewable energy installed capacity increased 226% in the last five years. As of May 31, 2021, the total installed capacity for renewables is 95.66 GW and renewable energy has a share of 25.24% in the total installed generation capacity in the country.

Further, India ranks 3rd in the renewable energy country attractive index in 2021. Also globally, it is the 5th largest installed capacity of renewable energy, 4th largest installed capacity of wind power, and 5th largest solar installed capacity.

In the period April 2014 to January 2021, the installed renewable energy capacity of India has increased by over two-and-half times and it stands at more than 141 Giga Watts (GW). This includes large hydro which is about 37% of the country’s total capacity (as on 16th June 2021).

During the same period, the installed solar energy capacity increased by over 15 times and now stands at 41.09 GW.

India’s Paris Agreement target

India had pledged in COP-21 in Paris that by 2030; 40% of its power generation capacity will be from non-fossil fuel sources. It has already achieved 38.5% of this and if the capacity under installation is added, it comes to 48.5%.

Further scope for renewable energy

India has set a target to achieve a capacity of 175 GW worth of renewable energy by the end of 2022, which expands to 450 GW by 2030. This is the world’s largest expansion plan is in renewable energy. Furthermore, it has also pledged to reduce the emissions intensity of GDP by 33% – 35% below the 2005 levels and increase the share of non-fossil fuel in total capacity to 40% by 2030. This opens up a plethora of scope and exploration in the arena of renewable resources.

There are newer areas of opportunities including wind– Solar Hybrid, Off-shore Wind Energy, Floating PV Projects, Green Hydrogen.

In addition to this, schemes and initiatives led by the government such as the LED mission saved the country billions of dollars in electricity bills. It brought down the carbon emissions by over 120 million tonnes every year. India has also launched Hydrogen Energy Mission in 2021-22 for generating hydrogen from green power sources.

Moreover, the government is also planning to roll out charging stations at gas stations across the country to encourage automobile users of electric cars to recharge their batteries using renewable energy or solar energy during day hours. India is looking to explore the batteries technology as it will play a major role in achieving the sustainability goal. It also imposed customs duty on imported cells and modules to protect the Indian industry from dumping of cheap solar cells.

India is also working towards meeting its growing electricity demand through sustainable means. The growing demand opens up space for adding more renewable energy capacity. For this, it is working to have vehicles that can take up to 100% ethanol. By 2023-24, India is going to be 20% blending ethanol in its petrol products.

Green hydrogen, produced through electricity generated from renewable energy, is ecofriendly and its production does not emit carbon dioxide in the atmosphere unlike grey hydrogen, which is produced from methane and releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Union Renewable Minister R K Singh also proposed green industry sectors to replace grey hydrogen with green hydrogen for which the country will come out with a Green Hydrogen Purchase Obligation for different sectors like petroleum and fertilizer. This will also provide huge demand for domestically manufactured solar and wind equipment as well as storage.

Similarly, green ammonia is one where the process of making ammonia is 100% renewable and carbon-free, thus, better for the environment.

Easy open access for green energy

The government has proposed to come out with rules and regulations that provide for easier open access or entry gates for those industries which want to become green i.e. companies that want to rely on green energy for their functioning.

The industry will be able to either set up green energy manufacturing capacity itself or through a developer and draw power from it through open access. The surcharge on open access will also be rationalized to ensure that open access is not saddled with unfair levies.

Further, 100% FDI is also allowed under the automatic route for renewable energy generation and distribution projects subject to provisions of The Electricity Act, 2003.