Pathway to a green transition 

Share

Just two months back, in the scorching heat of June 2024, the national capital faced an intense and prolonged heatwave, driving electricity demand to unprecedented levels and shattering previous records. This was just one of many instances in the past year where India faced an energy crisis, struggling to meet the soaring demand for electricity and India’s energy needs are only expected to grow further. Last year, the country’s total energy consumption surged to 7.5 % compared to 5.6% in 2022. This rising demand underscores the urgent need for a more resilient and sustainable energy infrastructure to ensure the country can meet its future power needs. 

In response to the increased demand and to ensure adequate power availability across the country, the Power Ministry implemented a series of measures, including running gas-based and imported coal-based  power plants at optimum capacity. While this decision helped avert widespread power shortages in the short term, it is evident that such stop-gap measures are not sustainable in the long run. With the global annual temperature increasing at an average rate of 0.06 °C every year1, this problem is only going to aggravate, especially when 55% of the country’s energy demand is still met through coal.  

This urgency underlines the need for a more proactive approach toward energy planning. However, the path leading to green energy is not devoid of challenges that we should strive to surmount so that we can provide a reliable and resilient future of energy. 

Infrastructural limitations related to an aging grid system 

Energy infrastructure ranks among the most vital barriers towards a transition to greener energy. Most of India’s power grids were set up to manage centralized energy generation of fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and oil. These grids are yet hardly optimized for the intermittent nature of renewable sources of energy, such as solar and wind. For instance, solar power generation does well during the day, but it fades slowly into nighttime, while wind generation is a direct function of weathering conditions. 

These are best navigated through a smart, modern grid system. Smart grids, the kind through which advanced data analytics, sensors, and automated controls are embedded, can optimize the real-time balance of supply and demand, thereby allowing greater shares of renewable energy. In addition to that, investments are made in energy storage systems—for example, some very large lithium-ion batteries or pumped hydro storage—that can help to store excess energy produced during peaks in generation and release it during peak demand. That would stabilize the grid or reduce dependence on fossil fuels during peak hours. 

Land acquisition challenges 

The path to a green energy transition is not smooth at all, especially when it comes to land acquisition. Renewable utility-scale projects need extensive tracts of land. Outright ownership, where land rights are often fragmented between surface and sub-surface ownership, brings a lot of legal complications. Besides, existing easements or zoning restrictions can be barriers to development.

These problems are exacerbated by regulatory challenges at the local, state, and federal levels in which going through the approvals process requires time-consuming environmental assessments and extensive bureaucratic delays.

Often, in reality, developers secure bids, but work cannot be initiated for long due to inordinate delays; this only gives rise to financial insecurity, and the project keeps sitting. Without solving these hurdles, the green transition will be slowed down and jeopardize our ability to meet urgent climate goals. 

It thus becomes imperative to harness degraded land and brownfield sites to ease land acquisition pressures with the introduction of agrovoltaic projects that are mutually beneficial for energy and agriculture. Streamlining of regulatory approvals, providing financial securities to the developers, and community involvement will ensure an accelerated and greener transition of energy. 

Lack of skilled workforce and technical expertise 

Meeting 2030 energy efficiency and renewable targets requires a skilled workforce. However, there is a shortage of skilled professionals who can design, build, and maintain renewable energy systems. According to a recent report, the skills gap in the green economy will rise to 7 million by 20302. This green skills gap is especially acute in solar, wind, and biofuel technologies—key pillars of the energy transition. 

Government and industry must invest in training programs and workforce development to build the necessary expertise in solar, wind, and energy storage technologies. By collaborating with educational institutions and creating vocational training programs, we can develop a skilled workforce equipped to handle the needs of the future energy system. 

The critical role of government policy and incentives 

The importance of strong, targeted policies cannot be overstated, as they create the environment necessary for innovation, investment, and adoption of green energy solutions. 

For instance, India’s National Solar Mission has already set an ambitious target of 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, with solar power being a significant contributor. However, achieving such targets requires more than just setting goals—it demands the alignment of policies across sectors to accelerate implementation. 

Various other policy instruments have been deployed to support green energy adoption, including renewable energy mandates, feed-in tariffs, and tax incentives. Mandates ensure a certain percentage of energy comes from renewable sources, compelling utilities and industries to shift their energy mix.  Feed-in tariffs, which guarantee long-term purchase agreements for renewable energy producers, have been instrumental in driving investment in solar and wind energy globally. 

 Lastly, the policy support must go beyond isolated measures. Comprehensive policies should include urban planning reforms, as cities are hubs of energy consumption. Incentives for rooftop solar installations, energy-efficient building designs, and green urban infrastructure are critical in urban centers where space is limited but energy needs are rapidly growing. 

 

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Popular content

The solar industry’s freefall: A price war with no end in sight?
09 October 2024 The future of the solar industry hangs in the balance as manufacturers, regulators, and market players grapple with a perfect storm of falling prices...