Policy

We all should envisage a society in which everyone, including individuals and businesses, operate carbon neutrally, i.e., all entities reduce their carbon footprint by adopting sustainable practices.

The ministry of New and Renewable Energy has empowered the Dispute Resolution Committee to look into commissioning extension requests for solar projects that are due for delivery before April 1 next year.

To achieve the government’s ambitious renewable energy targets, and integrate the two growing sectors of infrastructure and construction and renewable energy, the existing policies and codes for green buildings need to be further enhanced. Most of these rules need to include specific details about energy generation. Right now, these are more to do with energy efficiency. 

A new study proposes an ‘extended producer responsibility’ based regulatory framework for end-of-life (EOL) solar PV management in India. Under the framework, the Government of India (GoI) works as the nodal agency, defining the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders and regulating the overall supply chain. The onus of EOL solar PV take-back, transportation, storage, recovery, and destruction lies on the manufacturers, with the entire system cost borne by an executive committee formed by the manufacturers.  

At COP26 Summit in Glasgow, prime minister Narendra Modi also announced India’s pledge to increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030. The nation would also increase renewable energy’s share in its overall energy generation mix to 50% by 2030.

Foreign direct investment’s role in bringing in finance, superior technology and other resources is undoubtedly a critical one. The Indian government has tried to create a conducive environment for enabling flow of foreign investments into the solar energy sector in the country, but the norms need to be eased further to really push the industry to its maximum growth potential.

The latest edition of a clean power jobs survey produced by IRENA and the International Labour Organization has stressed the important role which will need to be played by the public sector if the energy transition’s employment benefits are to be shared equally.

Parity in the total cost of ownership already exists for electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers (with subsidy) vis-à-vis their internal combustion engine counterparts. Policy impetus, coupled with the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for batteries and auto components (exclusively covering EVs), is likely to further reduce costs and accelerate the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). The transition will also open up the market for new-age companies and innovators across the value chain.

India has seen substantial activity in the domestic battery storage and green hydrogen markets, from the entry of Reliance and Acme Solar in green hydrogen to gigawatt-scale battery storage tenders by NTPC and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). There are more private ventures in the offing, indicating the government’s policy push is in the right direction.  

A robust distributed renewable energy ecosystem with a strong domestic industry will help provide good-quality, reliable electricity to rural households and enterprises and thus turbocharge green entrepreneurship—paving the way for a self-reliant India.