MillenniumPost
Inland

Catching the green wave

India requires a broader policy framework for ensuring optimum capacity utilisation in the renewable sector, and for handling deficient supply of critical minerals and flexibility of solar and wind energy sources

Catching the green wave
X

Since November 2016, when the much-publicised Paris Agreement was ratified and came into force, the renewable energy sector got a tremendous boost across the globe. The Paris Agreement was a legally binding international treaty on climate change which had been adopted by 196 countries at the Conference of Parties (CoP21) held in Paris in 2015. It was agreed that by 2020, the countries would submit their plans for climate action, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Nevertheless, the ground reality of huge expenses involved in the transition from 'dirty' to 'green' energy might have forced the leaders to dilute their 'legally binding' commitments made in Paris to a plethora of non-binding pledges in Glasgow during CoP26 held in November 2021. One hundred and thirty-three countries, including India, pledged to a "net-zero carbon emissions date" and most governments, corporates and civic entities have shown determination to 'phase down', and eventually phase out, fossil fuels from their energy basket.

In Glasgow, the Indian Prime Minister had made five bold announcements: (i) To achieve the target of net-zero emissions by the year 2070; (ii) to achieve 500-gigawatt non-fossil energy capacities by 2030; (iii) fulfilling 50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable energy sources by 2030; (iv) Reducing India's total projected carbon emissions by a billion tonnes by 2030; and (v) reducing the carbon intensity of the economy to less than 45 per cent. Nonetheless, these announcements came with a rider. India demanded USD 1 trillion as 'climate finance' for such a huge scale transition to green energy.

As there is no legal obligation to meet the commitments made in UNFCCC platforms like CoPs (CDM commitments under Kyoto Protocol is a case in point), there is no harm in promising politically acceptable targets. Putting 'net zero' target by the year 2070 was a smart move by India, as within next five decades, either new forms of technology would be invented to save the world or it would be a total disaster, as predicted by a section of climate scientists, for the entire globe.

Global status of renewables

The share of fossil fuels (80.2 per cent) in final energy consumption has remained the same since 2009, and global energy demand has expanded around 20 per cent. Renewable energy meets just over 11 per cent of global final energy demand – only a slight increase from around nine per cent a decade ago. Table 1 reveals the actual contribution of renewable energy in the primary energy mix of major economies. The actual contribution of 'renewable' hydro power would be much lower than what is mentioned in the table, as this figure also includes hydro power from more than 25 MW capacity plants which are not considered as renewable sources

This slowdown in renewables has taken place at a time when there has been a steep decline (refer to table 2) in per unit cost of production of electricity from all the major types of renewable sources. The table also reveals that onshore wind power is the cheapest of all the renewable power sources and its current production cost is even less than the fossil fuel-based electricity cost which ranges between 0.05 and 0.15

Renewables 21: Global Status Report by Renewable Energy Policy Network (REN) has categorically mentioned that the progress of renewables as an alternative to fossil fuel has slowed down. To quote from the report, "a heightened profile does not automatically translate into action and implementation". Now the question may be raised that even as renewables have become very cheap then why are we not using more of them?

According to the REN report, the obstacles that have prevented the growth of renewable energy in past years continued during 2020. These include: (i) the lack of integrated, cross-sectoral strategies to drive the transition; (ii) the lack of sufficient policy support and enforcement; (iii) persistent support for fossil fuels; (iv) the need for infrastructure development and increased affordability in some markets; and (v) the need for more innovation in some sectors. Together, these obstacles have led to only a slow increase in the share of renewable energy in final energy demand.

Compared to renewables share in the primary energy mix, its share in the electricity generation (refer to table 3) is more impressive. The EU27, especially Germany, has led the transition. However, table 4 suggests that China now leads in almost all renewable energy types in terms of Annual Investment /Net Capacity Additions / Production in 2020.

India's renewable energy status

India has never considered its energy policy seriously. In July 2008, the Lower House of the Indian Parliament, for the first time in its long history, had debated on an issue which, among others, was also linked to energy supplies. Though there is no dearth of experts in the country on 'poverty' alleviation strategies, Indians usually don't show much enthusiasm in any debate on 'energy'. Politicians in general and development economists in particular have failed miserably to highlight the links between 'poverty and lack of energy supply'.

Till 2005, the major thrust of India's energy policy remained focussed around fossil fuel with occasional indulgence towards nuclear energy. The Draft Report (December 2005) and Final Report (August 2006) of the Expert Committee on Energy is a case in point. The Expert Committee on Energy, formed by the Government of India, in their final report — 'Integrated Energy Policy 2006' — had projected a significant contribution of nuclear energy (maximum of 6.4 per cent from 6 per cent mentioned in the draft report) in the fuel mix of 2030-31. And in the same report, the maximum share of renewables was raised to 5.6 per cent from 2.7 per cent. Realizing the growing importance of renewable energy, the committee had recommended initiating specific technology missions on (i) solar energy; (ii) bio-fuels; (iii) biomass production; (iv) community biogas plants.

Though as early as the 1870s an ambitious attempt at harvesting energy from the Sun was initiated in India by William Adams, who used concentrated sunlight to run boilers imported from Britain, energy planners of independent India did not pay much importance to solar energy till 2007. During the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-06), only 0.61 MW of solar power was installed.

Then suddenly, a thrust on solar was observed and the following policy decisions were made. (i) In June 2008, the government announced Solar Mission as a major thrust area in the National Action Plan on Climate Change and (ii) In November 2009, a few weeks before the UN meeting on climate change at Copenhagen, the government approved the new policy on the development of solar energy. In January 2010, the Prime Minister of India formally announced the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) with an objective to create an enabling policy framework for the deployment of 20GW of solar power by 2022.

This happened at a time when wind energy had already made its presence felt in India through an installed capacity of 5.43 GW during the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-06) against the installation of only 0.61 MW solar power in the corresponding period. Moreover, wind power was, and still is, much cheaper than solar power. The Cabinet in its meeting held on June 17, 2015 had approved revision of the target from 20 GW to 100 GW. According to the credit rating agency ICRA, India is likely to add an estimated 16 GW of renewable energy over FY 2023.

Table 5 reveals that though the percentage share of RE in total installed capacity has improved from 14.36 per cent in 2014-14 to 23.52 per cent in 2019-20, the capacity utilisation rate of renewable power plants is still very low, even less than one fourth of the actual capacity. This is mainly due to the erratic nature of wind speed and the non-availability of sun rays during the night. Unless the capacity utilisation level is increased, the renewable energy sector would not be considered a stable and viable energy source for power generation and distribution through national electric grids.

Of late, India has taken an ambitious plan to compete with China in the renewable energy sector. Major Indian companies have decided to invest huge capital in solar power/electrical batteries, offshore windmills and the production of solar cells. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) has suggested that the Union Budget 2022-23 must focus on incentivising technology adoption in the renewable energy sector through tax concessions and credit guarantees, reports Economic Times. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, ReNew Energy Global PLC and its compatriots are planning to make the panels and components themselves, which is a part of an all-out campaign by India to break China's lock on the solar supply chain. The only problem with India is the non-availability of any indigenous technology for solar PV, EV batteries, and knowhow of offshore windmills though India has indigenous technology for onshore wind power.

Challenges

(i) In a special report, 'The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions' — the most comprehensive global study to date on the central importance of minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements in a secure and rapid transformation of the global energy sector — the International Energy Association (IEA) has flagged the need for supplies of critical minerals essential for key clean energy technologies like electric vehicles and wind turbines. Most of these elements are hazardous and are in short supply.

(ii) The existing grids were built on the fundamental concept of 'base load' coal plants that operated 24 hours a day. Later, nuclear plants also operated continuously. Unlike coal and nuclear, solar and wind are variable; they provide power only when the sun and wind are available. There are basically three ways to accommodate the variability of wind and solar energy: use storage, deploy generation in a coordinated fashion across a wide area of the country along with more transmission; and manage electricity demand to better match the supply. These are all sources of flexibility. Optimising these operations in an unpredictable climatic situation is a major challenge. Huge investment is required to convert the traditional grid into a smart grid that would be able to manage these fluctuations, reports The Conversation.

Conclusion

In the absence of an independent long-term energy policy, the Government of India has relied on foreign sources for critical inputs like crude oil, uranium, silicon etc. The state has taken short-term initiatives to address the energy needs of an elite group, comprising mainly the upper- and middle-class citizens of urban India, big corporate houses, and large farmers. Without proprietary technology, domestic firms would not be able to face competition. If Indian policymakers sincerely intend to develop a strong domestic industry for renewable energy supplies, then they should formulate a long-term strategy, taking into account its own resource endowment — human and material. Strategies followed by global leaders like Germany and China may be benchmarked as reference cases.

Views expressed are personal













Next Story
Share it