India is now a world leader in renewable energy. Here's how

[Nityam]

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/11/india-is-now-a-world-leader-in-renewable-energy

India is now a world leader in renewable energy. Here's how

India now ranks second in the world in the production of renewable energy.
Image: REUTERS/Saumya Khandelwal

30 Nov 2018, Maria Thomas


Developing nations are now driving the world’s gradual shift towards renewable energy, and India has become one of the leaders of the pack.

With increased investments and clean energy installations, as well as the world’s largest renewables auction market, India ranks 2nd after Chile in the 2018 Climatescope (pdf) report by energy researcher BloombergNEF. The organisation studied over 80 indicators, such as clean energy policies, power sector structures, emissions and installed capacities, for 103 countries around the world.

India’s second position represents a climb of three spots from the 5th position it held last year. In comparison, China ranked 7th, down from the top position last year.

The Narendra Modi government in India has set an ambitious goal of reaching 175GW of clean energy generation by March 2022. BloombergNEF’s research shows that in June 2018, renewables accounted for 71GW of India’s installed generating capacity. India’s renewables auctioned capacity has also increased by 68% since 2017, and clean energy investments, mostly related to solar power projects, added up to $7.4 billion in the first half of 2018, the report said. Renewable energy installations surpassed those by coal power plants for the first time in 2017, BloombergNEF added.

But India isn’t quite ready to quit coal power for good. Though new coal-fired capacity fell to 4GW in 2017, from 17GW per year between 2012 and 2016, India still depends on the polluting fuel for three-fourths of its energy requirements, according to the report. China, India, Indonesia, and South Africa account for 86% of the 193GW of coal-fired plants currently under construction in developing nations.

“Faced with significant pressure to expand energy access (India) and keep power affordably priced (China), policy-makers will be reluctant to de-commission these relatively new plants anytime soon,” the report says. “And no less than 81% of all emerging market coal-fired capacity is located in these two nations.”

Meanwhile, not everything is rosy on the ground in India’s renewables market. Poor policies have sparked uncertainty over the duties on imported solar panels, causing a sharp decline in new solar capacity additions in 2018. Of the 175GW target for 2022, 100 GW of renewable energy was slated to come from solar power, but analysts have warned that the way things are going, this goal is looking extremely unlikely.

 

[Dubious]

World Bank Praises India's Renewable Energy Success
Many of the world's largest energy-consuming countries significantly improved their renewable energy regulations since 2010, said the World Bank's report.
All India | Indo-Asian News Service | Updated: December 10, 2018 23:04 IST

World Bank released a report titled Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE) 2018.


KATOWICE (POLAND):
The World Bank today praised India's success in renewable energy auctions that delivered record-setting low prices for solar power and said the number of countries with strong policy frameworks for sustainable energy more than tripled -- from 17 to 59 -- in the eight years till 2017.

Many of the world's largest energy-consuming countries significantly improved their renewable energy regulations since 2010, said the World Bank's report -- Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE) 2018 -- charting global progress on sustainable energy policies.

The report was released on the sidelines of the 24th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change(COP24).

Progress was even more marked in energy efficiency, with the percentage of countries establishing advanced policy frameworks growing more than 10-fold between 2010 and 2017.

Among countries with large populations living without electricity, 75 per cent had by 2017 put in place the policies and regulations needed to expand energy access. But there were still significant barriers to global progress on sustainable energy.

While countries continue to be focused on clean energy policies for electricity, policies to decarbonize heating and transportation, which account for 80 per cent of global energy use, continued to be overlooked.

Senior Director for Energy and Extractives at the World Bank Riccardo Puliti said the report contains a warning that without accelerated adoption of good policies and strong enforcement, the world's climate goals and Sustainable Development Goal 7 were at risk.


This momentum was particularly marked in renewable energy. Among the countries covered by RISE, only 37 per cent had a national renewable energy target in 2010. By 2017, that had grown to 93 per cent, the report said.

By last year, 84 per cent of countries had a legal framework in place to support renewable energy deployment, while 95 per cent allowed the private sector to own and operate renewable energy projects.

Among the four SDG7 target areas -- renewable energy, energy efficiency, electricity access and access to clean cooking -- the last one continued to be the most overlooked and underfunded by policymakers.

There has been little progress on standard-setting for cookstoves or on consumer and producer incentives to stimulate adoption of clean technologies, the report said.

COMMENT
"How did India structure its renewable energy auctions to deliver record-setting low prices for solar? At the same time, we need urgent action to address critical gaps, such as failing utilities, clean cooking, and the slow progress on decarbonizing heating and transport," said Mr Puliti.



(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)


https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/world-bank-praises-indias-renewable-energy-success-1960662

 

[Tshering22]

We need to do more.

There is still limitless potential in solar energy in the country as majority of the land receives maximum sunshine throughout the year.

We also need to work on renewable energy storage and micro-grid distribution technology.

 

[Skull and Bones]

We need to do more.

There is still limitless potential in solar energy in the country as majority of the land receives maximum sunshine throughout the year.

We also need to work on renewable energy storage and micro-grid distribution technology.

We will have to change the grid structure to make it lucrative, by allowing consumers to sell unused energy to the market, rooftop solar installments can be looked as a viable investment opportunity.

 

[HalfMoon]

We need to do more.

There is still limitless potential in solar energy in the country as majority of the land receives maximum sunshine throughout the year.

We also need to work on renewable energy storage and micro-grid distribution technology.

We will have to change the grid structure to make it lucrative, by allowing consumers to sell unused energy to the market, rooftop solar installments can be looked as a viable investment opportunity.

There are vast lands of non-arable barren lands in the country which are all good candidates for solar farms.

AP (Rayalaseema), Karnataka (Hyderabad Karnataka) and Maharastra (Hyderabad) are all good candidates . The temperatures in these areas are between 35-45 Celsius.

 

[Yogijaat]

We need to do more.

There is still limitless potential in solar energy in the country as majority of the land receives maximum sunshine throughout the year.

We also need to work on renewable energy storage and micro-grid distribution technology.

and hydro also, our country is blessed with rivers.

 

[Tshering22]

and hydro also, our country is blessed with rivers.

Hydro requires a lot of surface work and a lot of relocation. Solar, not so much.

Hydro is a good option for people like mine as Himalayan states have massive waterfall and water reserves flowing downwards. But the plains have the blessings of the sun.