• Recently, the PM announced that there are huge renewable energy deployment plans for India for the next decade which are likely to generate business prospects of around $20 billion per year. 
• In his address after inaugurating the 3rd Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo (RE-Invest 2020), through video conferencing he invited investors, developers and businesses to join India’s renewable energy journey.

State of Renewable Energy sector in India

• India is the 4th largest economy in terms of renewable energy with more than 20 billion dollar investment.
• Renewable energy capacity in India is currently 136 Giga Watts, which is about 36 % of its total capacity.
• By 2050, the country will be completely free from fossil fuels and India has a target of achieving 450GW by the next decade.
• India has seen a fast transformation in the energy landscape and energy demand is further growing due to demand and supply side factors.

Demand side factors for growing energy demand

(i) For providing connectivity all over the country

(ii) At present, per capita consumption of India at the global level is quiet low

(iii) India is one of the fewer economies globally which is growing

Supply side factors

(i) Importance of Clean air after the pandemic

(ii) As the power sector is one of the main sources of pollution, the energy needs to come from renewable sources.

• Renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy which can provide sustainable power as well as 24*7 power.
• Eg: Electric vehicles
• It will create new business opportunities and millions of jobs which is a key for Atma nirbhar Bharat.
• The level of cooperation at global level in terms of renewable energy is satisfactory as the position of India as a market or as a pool of human resource is amicable due to which a lot of countries are attracted towards Indian market.

Challenges ahead

1. 1. The major challenge lies in Integration of Renewables with the main grid.
   2. Storage and battery solutions for clean energy and last mile connectivity.
   3. To vanish the peak load on a particular element eg: coal.
   4. Managing the cost of storage and cost of supplying to the end consumer.

• Poor implementation of battery solutions.

Key areas for fostering the Renewable Energy

(i) Manufacturing of solar panels and integration of supply chains.

(ii) Research and development of cleaner technologies.

(iii) Integration of Electric vehicles (EV’s).

(iv) Biomass or methanol based transportation sector 

(v) Geographical diversity for managing variability in renewables.

Some initiatives 

• KUSUM scheme

• The production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme

• Green corridors etc.

Way Forward

• Technologies are evolving and current hydrogen based technology needs to be harnessed.
• The infrastructure and capacity building should be improved.
• Combination of integration, identification of areas and distributed energy models can be developed for sustainable energy.

Reference:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDZBY4K2kKY