India's Green Energy Transition

The on-road vehicle stock in Bengaluru is expected to grow by 1.5 times, with the total vehicular population projected to increase from 5.7M to 8.9M by 2030. Of note, the city’s electric vehicle (EV) fleet is projected to grow from 75,000 to 2.3M, with the most significant increase in the number of two wheelers, followed by three and four wheelers.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are a direct cause of human-induced climate change. India accounted for 2.9 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2019. The transportation sector accounts for roughly 10% or 290 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. Road transport, mainly comprising heavy vehicles (buses and trucks) and to some extent personal vehicles (two wheelers [2Ws] and four wheelers [4Ws]), is the leading contributor to these emissions.

In 2019, the Government of India launched the second phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles (FAME II) scheme to bring electric vehicles (EVs) at par with internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in terms of affordability. This was primarily aimed at helping India achieve its climate commitments and EV30@30 goals.

To meet its global commitments, India is planning to reduce fossil-fuel-based power generation by targeting 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030. However, the increasing adoption of renewable and distributed energy resources is creating several technical and economic challenges in the Indian power system due to intermittency and lack of infrastructure.

India’s plans to add more than 200GW of solar PV capacity will include significant contribution of agriPV. Given the criticality of agriculture to the Indian economy and the diversity in crop production, there is need to understand in practical terms the impact of deploying agriPV on productivity, farmers incomes, linkages to foreign trade, domestic demand among other issues. This granular assessment must form the basis for developing clear guidelines, in consultation with stakeholders, on defining agriPV and parameters such as acceptable yield restriction.

Wind energy systems are expected to play a crucial role in meeting India’s ambitious goal of 450 GW of renewable energy installed capacity by 2030, which includes 140 GW of wind energy. In addition to large wind turbines, small wind turbines with less than 50 kW capacity can contribute to this goal. Further, small wind turbines generate decentralised power and reduce energy bills for consumers and power purchase costs for distribution companies, as well as help manage peak demand periods.

India’s energy demand is expected to grow at about 3% per annum till 2040, which necessitates the development of more clean power sources to fulfil this demand. India aims to meet 50% of the nation’s energy requirement through green energy sources by installing 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based energy sources. In this context, the Indian power sector has introduced various policies to encourage investors and developers to establish more renewable energy plants.

Uttar Pradesh, the fourth largest state in terms of land area, is the most populated state in India, accounting for over 16% of the country’s total population. As of January 2023, the installed capacity for power generation in Uttar Pradesh was about 31.4 GW, with thermal energy accounting for the majority (82% of the total installed capacity), followed by solar energy (8%) and biomass (7%).

Over the past decade, digitalisation has been expedited across all industries. This has enabled businesses to store, manage, and remotely retrieve large amounts of both critical and non-critical data. In addition, improvements in the precision of global navigation systems, expansion of trade and commerce, increased access to quality education, and other data-intensive procedures have contributed to an elevated quality of life and heightened productivity.