Approach

Introduction: Bring out the need for decarbonising India’s power sector.

Body: Mention the challenges which India might witness during its transition from coal-fired power generation to clean energy sources.

Conclusion: Suggest a way forward.

Answer:

According to a report titled “Global Carbon Budget”, India continues to be the fourth largest global emitter, after China (31 per cent), the US (14 per cent), and the European Union. As India's coal-based thermal power sector is responsible for one-third of India’s GHG emissions, it needs to decarbonise its power sector in order to realize the idea of net-zero emissions.

Challenges in decarbonising Power Sector in India:

1. Grid reliability: Solar and wind energy alone will not suffice to provide reliable and affordable energy for everyone. As the time of the day and the weather conditions continuously affect the production of power. Thus production of renewable energy can be very high at some points in time and low under other conditions. Therefore, the power generated when it is needed may not be sufficient or may not match the demand.
2. Geopolitical risks: According to the International Energy Agency, the demand for critical minerals like lithium, nickel and rare earth elements, required for clean-energy production technologies, is likely to increase by up to 3.5x by 2030. This jump implies that within a short time span new mines and processing facilities needs to be developed in China, Indonesia, Africa, and South America which control 50-100% of the current global extraction and processing capacities.

1. Lack of Adequate Finance: Electricity production which is by far the largest source of carbon emissions accounts for 5.2% of outstanding credit, but only 17.5% of this lending goes to renewables. Moreover, there is a shortage of experts in India’s financial institutions who have the expertise to appropriately advise the institutions on such a transition.
2. High Dependence on Coal: Coal-fired power plants account for nearly 50% of the country's electricity generation. The analysts have pointed out that the country will phase out coal only when it is sure the transition won't cause power disruptions, with renewable energy storage capacity currently still weak and expensive.
3. Underutilisation: Renewable energy-rich states for instance, even the top performer Karnataka has utilized only 11% of its total renewable energy potential. On account of issues such as land conflict, technology upgrades, and lack of transmission infrastructure etc. Also, the states are focusing on large-scale renewable power projects, but are ignoring other possibly viable options, such as rooftop solar, small hydel plants, etc.

Way Forward:

1. Use of smart grids: AI-driven technologies could forecast energy data for power production and load; this enables optimal grid management by the use of analytics. This way, the equipment's health is closely monitored.
2. Enhancing global mineral security: Council On Energy, Environment and Water, has argued that the G20 group of nations should support investments in development of new exploration and mining technologies and should examine the creation of a strategic stockpile of critical minerals. Furthermore, it should invest in focused R&D efforts to improve existing technologies from a resource-efficiency perspective.
3. Adequate Finance: Centre owned financial institutions, such as the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) and the Power Finance Corporation (PFC), should provide adequate finance in order to ensure smooth transition towards renewable energy.
4. Improving storage infrastructure: In order to reduce dependence on coal, India needs to invest in renewable energy storage technologies. For this apart from immobile lithium-ion batteries we need to promote the use of 'moving' batteries involving energy storage in electric vehicles using V2G technology and Virtual transmission technologies that come into play concerning specially configured battery systems.
5. Address under utilisation: In order to enhance the state’s clean energy transition a robust transmission infrastructure needs to be put in place. Apart from focusing on large-scale projects the states should also adopt other viable options like rooftop solar, small hydel plants, etc.

In order to realize the SDG 7 i.e., “to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”, India needs to create enabling environments for investors and RE developers by building institutional capacity, developing robust stakeholder processes, and enhancing sector transparency. Lastly, we need to pay attention to issues such as affordability, service quality, and environmental impacts.