The world is looking to mitigate the rapidly growing threat of climate change and India figures prominently as a vital cog in the wheel. It is now poised to take up the mantle of climate leadership, contribute actively in setting the agenda for future action and act as a role model for sustainable growth.India, is nevertheless set to become a renewable energy powerhouse.
How India became a global Clean/ Renewable Energy Powerhouse?
- India’s larger role in this sphere was the setting up of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) on the sidelines of the Paris Climate Conference (COP 21) – a step initiated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in collaboration with French President Emmanuel Macron.
- India is fast emerging as a global clean/ renewable energy powerhouse, where the renewables sector has taken rapid strides, though the seeds of this “green energy revolution”
- India was one of the first countries to set up a Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources in 1992, renamed the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in 2006.
- In 2014, when the National Democratic Alliance, led by Modi, came into power, that renewable energy in India got a real shot in the arm.
- The government envisioned renewable energy as a cleaner, sustainable alternative to polluting fossil fuels, taking numerous steps to strengthen this sector in a bid to satisfy the country’s energy demand.
- In 2015, the government injected early momentum into the sector by announcing an ambitious target of 175 gigawatts of renewables capacity by 2022, later revised upwards to 225 gigawatts.
- India currently has around 80 gigawatts of installed renewable energy capacity, up from 35 gigawatts in 2014, with another 30 gigawatts in the pipeline.
- Solar capacity today is at nearly 30 gigawatts, up from 2.6 gigawatts in 2014. Wind capacity has shot up to over 36 gigawatts from 21 gigawatts in the same period.
The World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Impact summit
- The Indian renewables sector will create around 330,000 new jobs by 2022 and more than 24 million new jobs by 2030, according to the International Labour Organization.
- India’s goal is to increase the share of renewable energy in the national energy mix to 40% by 2030, which will require 300 gigawatts of fresh renewables capacity.