It is made public that India is targeting a zero emission goal by 2070. If we look back, the energy consumption in India has doubled in the past two decades. If India has been using energy at this rate, the energy consumption in India will increase by 30% by the end of 2030. It is strictly recommended that India should start using renewable energy sources and should not rely on non-renewable resources.
India’s Energy Evolution: A Shift Towards Renewables
As per the reports from the govt officials below are the percentage of use of various resources in March 2024.
- The thermal power generation capacity for electricity in India is 56%,
- Renewable energy is 32%
- Hydroelectric power is 11%.
- The electrical energy from Nuclear power has a contribution of 2%.
India has improved this ratio from the previous results, earlier in 2008, the percentage of use of various resources is given below.
- The thermal power generation capacity for electricity in India was 63.3% – decreased now
- Renewable energy was 8.9%- increased now
- Hydroelectric power was 25% – decreased now
- There is an increase in renewable resources and a reduction in thermal resources for electricity generation.
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India has seen an increase in renewable energy sources by 12.20% whereas there is only a 0.49% increase in thermal sources like fossil fuels. This percentage is proof that India is changing the pattern of energy and introducing more renewable energy sources in the electricity stream.
If we further elaborate on the renewable energy sources and their use percentage in overall electricity generation, the following will be the percentage.
- The electricity generation from solar has a percentage of 53.4%
- The electricity generation from wind power has a percentage of 34.1%
- The electricity generation from bio-power has a percentage of 8.2%
- The electricity generation from hydropower has a percentage of 3.9%
Ethanol 20
India has a target of blending ethanol in petrol and the ratio of petrol to ethanol will be 80:20. Now, India requires 1016 crore liters of ethanol by the end of 2025-26. The values of ethanol are calculated from the consumption of petrol by the vehicles and the estimated consumption by the end of 2026.
National Green Hydrogen Mission
The govt has approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission already in 2023. The total financial expense for this mission will be $ 2.4 billion, these are US dollars. Among this value, $ 2.1 billion is for the SIGHT program, $ 175.9 million is for the pilot projects, $ 48 million is for the R&D/research and development, and the remaining $ 46.6 million is for other miscellaneous tasks.
The full form of SIGHT is Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition. The govt has allocated the majority of funds for the SIGHT program that promotes Green Hydrogen. This program will support the domestic manufacturing of electrolyzers. The green hydrogen will be produced domestically then.
The govt will start the SIGHT program under Mode-2B. In this mode, the demand for Green Hydrogen will be calculated and the supply of Green Hydrogen will be cost-effectively done. It is aimed to have 200000 million tonnes of Green Hydrogen per annum in Mode 2B. India has a target of becoming exported for Green Hydrogen and this target should be achieved in 2030.
EV Push
People prefer to buy electric vehicles now. The source of EVs is electricity not fuel like petrol. The electricity in EVs can be from renewable resources. The manufacturing process is different from the traditional ICE vehicles and the EVs don’t have fuel tanks, gas tanks, and exhaust pipes. The EV has a positive impact on the environment by not emitting CO2 gas. As a result, the CO2 footprint is reduced.
India has witnessed an increase in sales of EVs in 2023. In 2022, India has sold 1.09 million units of EV and in 2023, the number of sales is 1.62 million. The increased percentage of EV sales is 50% in 2023. And if we compare the sale of EVs in 2021, the increase of 4th times in sales is noticed in India.
The increased percentage of EV sales has proven that the public is interested in renewable sources of energy and wants to contribute to saving the earth. India has expected the below ratio for the sale of EVs by 2030.
- The sale of EV private cars will be increased by 30%
- The sale of EV commercial cars will be increased by 70%
- The sale of EV two- and three-wheelers will be increased by 80%
This initiative of govt and people together will contribute to the environment saving by less emission of CO2 gas that is emitted from the vehicles. The air quality will not degrade and become better and the environment will be more cleaner.
National Electricity Plan- NEP 14
The National Electricity Plan has been announced by the CEA- Central Electricity Authority. This is a plan for one decade, from 2022 to 2032. The NEP plan has listed the facts like the electricity demand, what is our installed capacity of electricity, and what are the targets for renewable energy. The target of the NEP plan is to have renewable energy sources of a capacity of 500GW by the end of 2029-30.
To achieve this target, the consumption of renewable energy must be increased to 57.4% by the end of 2026-27. And this number must be increased to 68.4 % by the end of 2031-32. India should aggressively follow wind and solar energy for electricity production to achieve the target of the NEP plan. The solar energy sources should be increased to 50% to achieve this goal.
Accelerating Towards a Sustainable Future
Indian Govt has a clean and straight approach to clean and renewable energy resources and their usage in electricity generation. India’s target to increase the usage of the sun is to be increased by 50% and the use of wind should be increased by 16% by the end of 2032 in the overall production of electricity. And other means of green energy are green hydrogen, ethanol blending, and EV vehicles, these should also be promoted and will replace the use of old fuel-based vehicles.