The recently concluded United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) noted that parties were off track in meeting their Paris Agreement goals. To keep up with its agreement of “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era, it called upon the parties to triple their renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency improvements by 2030. However, one bright spot was India, who has been a shining example despite the obvious constraints of reliance on fossil fuel for a rapidly expanding economy, especially given that the country’s energy consumption per capita is a third of the global average.
In this backdrop, India will host the second edition of India Energy Week (IEW) in Goa, India from February 6 to 9, 2024.
India could have argued that the Paris agreement goals were unfair as it only emits 4 percent of the global carbon emission while housing 17 percent of the world’s population. Instead, the country has gone ahead and achieved a robust renewable capacity addition in a short span.
Consider the numbers: at the end of 2016, India’s total wind and solar capacity stood at about 37 GW, with solar contributing just about 9 GW. In about seven years, the combined solar and wind power capacity has risen to over 116 GW, a three-fold jump.
Even more remarkably, solar power installations have jumped a massive 8-fold during the same time. Overall, India’s total non-fossil power generation capacity, which includes hydroelectric generation, amounts to 186 GW. This accounts for nearly 44 percent of the total installed capacity.
Speaking at the inauguration of COP 28, Indian’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi briefly laid out the country’s achievements: “We have already achieved the targets related to emissions intensity eleven years ago. We have achieved non-fossil fuel targets 9 years ahead of schedule.”
Modi emphasised on India’s intention to consolidate the renewable capacity addition trajectory. “And India has not stopped at this. Our target is to reduce emissions intensity by 45 percent by 2030. We have decided that we will increase the share of non-fossil fuel to 50 percent. And, we will also continue to move towards the goal of net zero by 2070,” the Indian Prime Minister said.
Success story driven by the private sector
The renewable success story has many factors, but primarily it has been driven by a vibrant private sector participation that has ensured affordable energy. Another factor that has aided this growth is quick-footed policymaking to tide over multiple challenges.
A recent example of decisive governance is India’s pivot to incentivise manufacturing of solar photovoltaic modules, for which the country specifically, and the world in general, have largely been dependent on China. India was quick to take the cue in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, which disrupted the traditional supply chains and muddied the geopolitical climate.
India launched a performance-linked incentive scheme to boost domestic manufacturing of solar modules of more than 48 GW capacity.
Moreover, the vast country, blessed with abundant solar radiation, has also innovated to bring the farmers into the scope of solar power through government schemes incentivising solar pumps.
India has ensured that its solar power initiatives aren’t restricted to mega solar parks — which are easier to implement due to guaranteed offtake of power. But it has laid equal emphasis on off-grid systems and rooftop solar to broad base the use of solar power and develop a sustainable domestic supply chain.
The approach is exemplified by the proposed mega renewable park (13 GW) plant in the high altitude Himalayan region of Ladakh, for which India has announced over USD 2 billion investments in evacuation infrastructure.
Additionally, the country’s ecosystem is continuously looking at ways to tide over the intermittency of renewable sources and has dedicated substantial resources to developing long-term battery energy storage capacity.
India Energy Week 2024
Organised by the Federation of Indian Petroleum [FIPI] Industry under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, India Energy Week (IEW) serves as a catalyst for meaningful discussions, knowledge exchange, and collaboration among industry experts, policy makers, academia and entrepreneurs.
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The event aims to foster partnerships, drive innovation, and explore solutions that will propel India’s energy sector into a sustainable and vibrant future.
India Energy Week 2024 is expected to draw over 35,000+ attendees, 350+ exhibitors, 400+ speakers and 4,000+ delegates from over 100 countries.
IEW will host an extensive array of exhibitors, spanning core oil field services to enrich the event’s dynamic atmosphere.
During IEW 2024, ministerial, leadership and technical sessions and roundtables will explore varied themes like energy transition of the global south, building a future ready energy stack, chartering the roadmap of alternate fuels for energy optionality and impact of localisation, regionalisation and globalisation on energy related industrialisation and manufacturing processes.
