PYQ Relevance[UPSC 2022] Do you think India will meet 50 percent of its energy needs from renewable energy by 2030? Justify your answer. How will the shift of subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables help achieve the above objective? Explain. Linkage: The question relates to India’s renewable energy transition and the feasibility of meeting its 2030 targets. The article links by emphasizing that without efficiency and subsidy realignment, rising renewable capacity alone cannot ensure a cleaner grid. |
Mentor’s Comment
India’s clean energy transition faces a paradox: even as renewable capacity doubles, the electricity flowing into homes is becoming dirtier. The rise in India’s grid emission factor despite record renewable expansion reveals deep systemic challenges, capacity-generation mismatch, demand peaks, and underutilization of renewables. This editorial decodes why energy efficiency, the “first fuel”, must become central to India’s decarbonisation strategy.
Introduction
India’s non-fossil fuel sources now account for about 50% of total installed capacity, yet its grid emission factor (GEF) has worsened from 0.703 tCO₂/MWh in 2020-21 to 0.727 tCO₂/MWh in 2023-24 (Central Electricity Authority). This anomaly highlights that while renewable capacity has expanded, fossil-fuel-based generation still dominates. To make India’s grid cleaner and more reliable, scaling up energy efficiency and flexibility is essential.
Why Is India’s Grid Getting Dirtier Despite More Renewables?
- Grid Emission Factor (GEF): This measure of carbon intensity has increased instead of falling, reflecting rising dependence on coal during peak demand hours.
- Installed capacity doesn’t always equate to generation: Renewables deliver less electricity annually compared to thermal or nuclear sources.
- Coal’s dominance: Fossil fuels continue to meet the marginal demand, making India’s grid more emission-intensive even with rising renewable capacity.
What Explains the Capacity-Generation Mismatch?
- Low capacity utilisation: Solar and wind plants run at only 15-25% utilisation, versus 65-90% for coal and nuclear.
- Temporal mismatch: Solar peaks during afternoon hours, while demand peaks at night, requiring fossil backup.
- System inflexibility: Lack of energy storage, flexible grids, and responsive pricing structures forces reliance on coal during non-solar hours.
- Data point: In 2023-24, renewables (including hydro) supplied only 22% of total electricity; the rest came from fossil fuels.
How Can Energy Efficiency Bridge the Gap?
- First fuel approach: Efficiency reduces demand before generation, lowering peak load, reducing reliance on coal during evening peaks.
- Economic benefit: Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) reports savings of 200 million tonnes of oil equivalent (MTOE) between FY2017-FY2023. This is equivalent to 1.29 GT of CO₂ and savings of ₹76,000 crore.
- Enabler of renewables: Efficiency flattens demand peaks, preventing renewable curtailment and enhancing integration of solar and wind.
- Preventing lock-in: Replacing old, inefficient technologies avoids long-term carbon lock-ins.
What Policy and Structural Changes Are Needed?
- Battery integration: Enabling homes and offices to connect storage systems for balancing demand.
- Appliance efficiency: Transition to 4-star and 5-star appliances with updated standards.
- Market mechanisms: Incentives for consumers to shift electricity usage to periods of high renewable availability.
- Scrappage policy: Phasing out inefficient fans, motors, and air conditioners through targeted rebates.
- RTC renewable procurement: Promote Round-the-Clock (RTC) renewable electricity, currently costing less than ₹5/kWh, to replace coal power.
Why Energy Efficiency Must Be at the Core of Decarbonisation Strategy
- Invisible yet indispensable: Efficiency is distributed and diffuse, but without it, India’s energy transition remains incomplete.
- Global comparison: Nations like France, Norway, and Sweden have achieved GEFs of 0.1-0.2 tCO₂/MWh via high efficiency and nuclear-hydro mix.
- India’s targets: National Electricity Plan (2023) projects India’s GEF to fall to 0.548 by 2026-27 and 0.430 by 2031-32.
- Integrated approach: A balance of renewable expansion, storage, and efficiency measures is key to achieving India’s Net Zero by 2070 target.
Conclusion
India’s clean energy paradox underscores that generation capacity alone cannot drive decarbonisation. Efficiency, flexibility, and policy coherence must shape the next phase of transition. Making energy efficiency the “first fuel” and embedding it across homes, industries, and infrastructure will determine how India powers its future while keeping its grid truly green.
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