Policy

Capacity additions for the current fiscal year are set to exceed the previous accounting period’s 8,532 MW. With Rs405 billion invested in clean energy in the last fiscal year, spending in the first nine months of 2019-20 has been estimated at Rs367 billion.

A 50% fall in the price of Lithium-ion battery packs—to $76/KWh from $156/KWh today—will make the capital cost of electric vehicles lower than combustion vehicles. However, to realise the full benefits of EVs, it is important to charge them with clean power and not fossil power.

Year 2019 saw some 19.5 GW of wind and solar energy contracted by corporations globally through power purchase agreements, up more than 40% from the previous year’s record. The bulk of this purchase occurred in the U.S. with tech companies and oil and gas majors leading the charge. India, however, saw a drop amid rollback of attractive policies, says a new report from BloombergNEF.

Already approved by the finance ministry, the proposal aims to woo investors into setting up manufacturing units in India and lower battery costs with indigenization of technology. An aggregate manufacturing capacity of 50 GWh is planned to be set up over a period of 10 years, which would require investments worth Rs 355 billion.

Power distribution reforms and scaling up of solar adoption among MSMEs through captive renewable energy policy and comprehensive Credit Guarantee Mechanism are among measures expected from the budget.

India’s largest private-sector thermal power producer—which ranked as the sixth largest solar player globally in 2019—will invest over 70% of its budgeted Capex for the energy vertical into clean energy and energy-efficient systems to fuel its transformation.

A study from Finland’s Lappeenranta University of Technology has predicted solar and other renewables can provide a global energy jobs revolution – just as four European operations revealed recent struggles.

The land required to meet India’s 2022 renewable energy target ranges from approximately 55,000 to 125,000 km2, or areas roughly the size of Himachal Pradesh or Chhattisgarh, respectively. This much land is likely to impact 6700–11,900 km2 of forest land and 24,100–55,700 km2 of agricultural land. The good news is that India’s already degraded lands have the potential of 1789 GW, which is more than ten times the 175 GW target.

Increased funding under the KUSUM Scheme to create further markets in farmland solar, viability gap funding to promote installation of grid-connected battery storage, and R&D support to zero-carbon technologies for cement and steel sectors would take India ahead on the green path—says the sustainability thinktank.

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