Progressive policies on electricity infrastructure
and climate change put this giant economy on
track for world leadership in renewables.
India Charts Course for
Renewable Energy Future
By aLexis Ring WaLd
Alexis Ringwald is a co-founder of
Valence Energy, a solar energy and
smart grid startup. She leads Valence’s
India operations from New Delhi. She
holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of
Environmental Management from Yale
and was a Fulbright scholar. She is an
international coordinator for the Indian
Youth Climate Network and, in January,
led a Climate Solutions Road Tour, driving more than 3,000 miles across India in
a solar-charged electric car.
iLLusTRaTion : isTocKPhoTo.com
Over the next decade
or two, India must
find a way to supply
electricity to 400 million people (about a
third of its population)
who now live without it. The country must meet the
growing energy needs of an emerging middle
class on an electric grid that’s already notoriously strained.
The required expansion of the infrastructure opens up broad opportunities for India’s
burgeoning entrepreneurs. But it also means
India has the potential to vastly increase the
world’s greenhouse gas emissions. The country
needs to take critical steps soon to avoid a high-emissions trajectory. Happily, the national and
state governments have taken a leadership role
and created a friendly environment for development of renewable energy resources.
Among the inspiring developments are plans
for India’s first multi-megawatt solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants in West Bengal and
Rajasthan and the success of domestic wind
entrepreneurs like Suzlon.
There’s no shortage of progressive thinking. In 1992, India became the only country in
the world to establish a separate Ministry
of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
Growth in renewable energy was modest for 15
years. Then, when energy prices spiked and
the International Panel on Climate Change
released its assessment report in 2007, India’s
industry and the media moved energy security,
economics and the environment to the front of
national consciousness.
Energy Demand Soars
Past Capacity
India’s economy has been growing at a
staggering 8 percent annually. Its population,
which today sits at 1.13 billion, is expected to
grow enough to make the country the most
populous in the world by 2030. To sustain its
economic growth and support its growing population, India will multiply its primary energy
demand three to four times in the coming
years, according to estimates from the International Energy Agency.
In absolute terms, this means an increase
in energy demand from 542 million tons of
oil equivalent (Mtoe) in 2006 to 842 Mtoe in
2016 and to 1,836 Mtoe in 2031. That increase
would move India from the fourth-largest energy consumer in the world today to the third
