India's Renewable Energy Challenge

India’s Energy-Climate Dilemma: The Pursuit for Renewable Energy Guided by Existing Climate Change Policies

“…In conclusion, the objectives of the NEP are laid out in section 2.0 and consist of the following; to increase the accessibility of electricity for all citizens by 2010, to secure energy availability by meeting energy demands by 2012, to supply reliable electricity that is efficient and reasonably priced, to increase per-capita electricity fuels like coal, charcoal, wood and dung comprise of 80-90% of the rural energy requirements chiefly because of affordability and accessibility [9]. Three quarters of India's rural and one quarter of its urban households rely on biomass for domestic needs [6], which is utilized inefficiently and releases large amounts of methane gas causing over 2.5 million deaths of women and children per year in developing countries as a result of indoor air pollution [9]. The use of fuelwood for example has other environmental impacts due to the amount of pressure it places on forests and ecosystems.…”

“…Section 4 promotes a national policy on stand-alone systems for rural areas centered on RE [16], in addition to section 61(h) which uses RE in the generation of electricity through tariff regulations [10,16]. Section 86(1-e) advocates the generation of electricity from renewables in order to connect it with India's grid and permit the sale to any person while also specifying a certain percentage of India's total electricity consumption derived from RE sources [6,16].…”

“…India already imports 80% of its oil [12], an increase from 72% in 2004-2005 [11], rendering it vulnerable to sustaining and increasing capacity. Oil imports are likely to increase four to five times by 2030, along with a doubling of imported coal in the next decade from 16% to an estimated 30% [6]. However, coal is India's most abundant resource and has the highest electric power capacity of 62% out of the 84% of the thermal power generated electricity in the year ending in March 2015 [13].…”

“…This trend is likely to persist up until 2031 as energy resources are becoming exhausted in spite of India being one of the largest producers of energy [5]. Electricity is required for sustaining India's social and development growth of more than 8-10% of its gross domestic product (GDP) [6], an increase experienced in the past 5 years [7], but overall important for industrialization, economic growth and improved quality of life [8]. India's electrification rate, defined as the percentage of households that have access to electricity, is only 44%, with an estimated 580 million people having no access to electricity along with a quarter of the 600,000 villages yet to be electrified [9].…”

“…India's RE sector is ranked fifth in the world, with 9% of its energy sector derived from renewables in 2010 [6], to 11% currently [1]. The Indian RE Department Agency was created in 1987 as a means to fund RE initiatives, and today through the MNRE and its state affiliates, encouragement of renewables and active participation in the private sector led to an enrichment in the RE sector [11].…”