Energy is a key factor in combating climate change, one of the biggest challenges the world is facing today. India has committed to cutting emissions to net zero by 2070 and set ambitious targets for adopting renewable energy. Achieving these targets requires careful planning and an overhaul of our current energy system.

 

Our work aims at enabling policies that encourage the adoption of rooftop solar, facilitate the development of technology for energy storage, strengthen the grid and transmission infrastructure, advance hydrogen technologies, and promote green mobility. CSTEP's research looks at the various aspects of mainstreaming renewable energy for a cleaner, greener energy sector.

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India's Green Energy Transition
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Innovative solar technologies for Green Hydrogen Production

With an increasing number of countries setting strong net-zero targets, there is a global push for the gradual discontinuation of fossil-fuel usage and the large-scale adoption of renewable energy (RE). In this context, green hydrogen is seen as the fuel of the future, with various governments and energy companies betting on it.

Can electric vehicles drive climate change action in India?

Recent studies show that 67% of public transport commuters in India shifted to private vehicle ownership after the initial Covid-19 crisis (during 2021-22). Around 96% of these new vehicles were internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) and will be in use for at least a decade, creating around 18.8 MtCO2 emissions annually.
Our analysis infers that if all of the newly added vehicles in India (during 2021-22) were electric vehicles (EVs), around 9.5 MtCO2 of emissions could have been avoided annually.

Launch Of National Rooftop Portal: A Giant Leap Towards Attainment Of India's Rooftop Goal?

Rooftop solar is expected to play a major role in India’s 280 GW solar target for 2030. However, only ~8 GW of the 40 GW target for 2022 has been achieved so far. The residential sector accounts for less than 20% of this installed capacity, despite being offered incentives such as net metering and a 20%–40% capital subsidy.

View: Agrivoltaics for the Indian condition

Of India’s nearly 62 GW installed solar capacity, about 50 GW is ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) plants. Recent trends show that obtaining land parcels for large solar projects is becoming increasingly difficult. Innovative and viable alternatives are needed to reach the 450 GW renewable energy (RE) target for 2030. Among the buzzwords circulating in the upper echelons of policy and decision-making is ‘agrivoltaics’. The concept aims to optimise land usage by combining agriculture with PV (agriPV).

Uttar Pradesh Solar Energy Policy 2022: Why ensuring successful execution is the key

With India’s commitment to achieving net zero by 2070, one of the milestones is attaining 500 GW capacity from non-fossil fuel-based sources by 2030. India has made significant progress in this regard, with installed renewable energy (RE) capacity reaching 120,900 MW as of 30 December 2022 (solar power: 63,302 MW; wind power: 41,930 MW). However, more than 300 GW needs to be added to achieve the target by 2030.

Energy transition: opportunities and challenges for the Indian power sector

The country has already made significant progress with installed renewable energy (RE) capacity reaching 114 GW as of 30 June 2022. This includes 41 GW of wind energy and 58 GW of solar energy. However, to get to 500 GW, India still has a long way to go. It needs to install more than 300 GW of RE capacity in the next 8 years. For this, a concerted effort from power sub-sectors (generation, transmission, and distribution) and a detailed analysis of the opportunities and challenges of each of them is required.
In this article, we touch upon transmission and distribution.

Energy Conservation Bill 2022: Implications and next steps

India has set ambitious climate targets as part of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to tackle the climate crisis. These include short- and long-term measures such as reducing the emissions intensity by 45%, installing 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity, and achieving a net-zero economy by 2070.

An important step in this direction is the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2022, which was passed in the Rajya Sabha recently.