The Green Race: India's Ambitious Renewable Energy Target
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In August this year, the Government of India announced that it has achieved an important milestone of its clean energy mission by successfully installing 100 GW of renewable energy capacity in the country. However, when compared with its overall target of installing 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022, India still has extensive ground to cover. In addition, the quality and assimilation are areas that are still nebulous. As a country which is the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world and continues to spend a sizeable amount of its revenue on oil imports, India has a massive task at hand.
The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly posed a challenge and slowed down the installation drive of renewable energy capacity in the country. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Ministry of Power, reports that between January and June 2021, the average monthly installation of renewable energy capacity was reduced to only 1GW. In addition, Bridge to India reports that rooftop solar installation has also been anemic and stood at only 7 GW till December 2020. This implies that India will need to quadruple its monthly installation rate henceforth if it wants to achieve its targets for 175 GW by 2022. Underutilisation of grid capacity is another major area of improvement. With access to grid connections, issues of accessibility and cost can be solved effectively in rural areas.
On its part, the Central and State governments have been actively advocating clean energy adoption in the form of policies that favour FDI up to 100% in the sector, issuing several waivers and providing fiscal incentives to manufacturers. India, in collaboration with France, has been also championing the mission of the International Solar Alliance. The National Hydrogen Mission announced this year is India's latest policy initiative towards promoting green energy in the country.
However, with ever-increasing power demand and a push towards manufacturing, is India in a position to achieve its target of power self-sufficiency by 2047? How can technology act as a catalyst in this transition? How can India deal with its struggling grid infrastructure which is key if the renewables energy transition in electricity has to happen? Do the costs and fixed investments required to achieve country-wide renewable energy electrification justify the potential economic returns?
Join us for a conversation aimed at understanding India’s clean energy transition in electrification with a focus on households and manufacturing industries with Ms. Gauri Singh, Deputy Director-General, International Renewable Energy Agency; Dr. Praveer Sinha, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Power; Dr. Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and Water and Harsha Meenawat, Senior Research Specialist - Energy Program, WRI India.
This will be the second session of our new virtual series ‘Safeguarding the Present for a Sustainable Future’ supported by TCG Lifesciences Pvt. Ltd
Gauri Singh is the Deputy Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency. Ms. Singh brings more than 30 years of experience in policy, advocacy and project implementation within the field of renewable energy and sustainable development from India and the international system. Prior to joining IRENA, Ms. Singh worked within India’s federal government and at the apex level within provincial government.
Dr. Praveer Sinha is the CEO & Managing Director of Tata Power Company Limited (TPC, Mumbai), India’s largest integrated power company. Dr. Sinha has nearly 36 years of experience in the Power Generation and Distribution sector in India. Prior to his present role, he had served as the CEO & MD of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL), a Public Private Partnership with Delhi Government.
Dr. Arunabha Ghosh is a public policy professional, adviser, author, columnist, and institution builder. He is the founder-CEO, since 2010, of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), consistently ranked (eight years running) as one of Asia's leading policy research institutions; and among the world’s 20 best climate think-tanks in 2013 and 2016.
Harsha Meenawat is Senior Research Specialist for the Energy Program at WRI India, where she works on policy research and analysis for WRI’s energy access and clean energy transition work focused on India. Prior to WRI, Harsha worked with one of India’s largest infrastructure financing companies in a policy advisory and strategy role.