by The Country That Needs to Triple Its Power Capacity by 2040 Is Adding Renewable Energy Faster Than Anyone Expected
Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat
India’s Renewable Energy Race: Third in the World and Still Massively Behind Schedule
NEW DELHI — India has become the world’s third-largest solar power market by installed capacity, behind only China and the United States, with over 80 gigawatts of solar capacity operational and an aggressive target of 500 gigawatts of non-fossil fuel power by 2030. The renewable expansion has been faster than most analysts projected five years ago and is significantly behind the pace required to meet the 2030 target, which means that India’s renewable energy story is simultaneously more impressive than expected and less impressive than required. Both things are true and both deserve acknowledgment.
The renewable expansion has been driven by sharply falling solar panel costs — India benefits from the same Chinese-manufacturing-driven panel price collapse that has accelerated solar deployment globally — combined with regulatory reforms that have streamlined project approvals and attracted international investment. The Adani Group’s solar manufacturing expansion, the Tata Power renewable portfolio, and dozens of independent power producers have built the project pipeline that the government’s targets require. The grid integration of this capacity — building the transmission infrastructure that connects generation to consumption — has been slower than the generation itself.
The Coal Complication
India’s coal consumption has not declined as renewable capacity has added. It has increased, because electricity demand has grown faster than renewable capacity additions. India is simultaneously the world’s third-largest solar market and one of the world’s fastest-growing coal consumers, which is not a contradiction but an accurate description of an economy growing faster than any single energy source can serve. Managing an energy transition in an economy growing at 5-6 percent annually requires adding clean capacity faster than demand growth, which India has not yet achieved. The solar panels are being installed. The coal plants are running. Both statements are true. The 2030 target remains aspirational.
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