Technology innovation and economic expansion likely to curtail India’s transition to renewable energy, research suggests

India, the world’s most populous nation, might be rising as a substitute of lowering its dependence on fossil fuels and different non-renewable power sources within the long-term, a brand new examine has discovered.

The studyprinted within the journal Vitalitydepicts a considerably gloomy image for India’s future when it comes to lowering carbon emissions by boosting its reliance on renewable energy .

The examine examines each short-term and long-term components affecting consumption of renewable and non-renewable sources of power in India, Asia’s third largest economic system and the world’s third largest emitter of fossil fuels.

The examine is the product of collaboration amongst scientists from Universities in Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Taiwan, and Uzbekistan.

The scientists notice that India, regardless of being probably the most populated nation on the planet and the world’s third largest electrical energy client, “is incapable of meeting its domestic energy demand with indigenous supplies,” turning it right into a heavy importer of oil and coal.

The examine offers statistics portraying India as a rustic which predominantly depends upon fossil fuels or non-renewables to fulfill its consumption of power. “In 2021, more than 65% of India’s final energy consumption portfolio was captured by non-renewable energy resources while coal accounted for 75.3% of India’s total electricity output in 2015,” they write.

The scientists discover a number of things affecting India’s consumption of non-renewable sources of power like coal and the consumption of renewable sources of power like photo voltaic power.

They write, “A novel try is made to not solely assess the macroeconomic drivers of annual per capita consumption ranges of non-renewable and renewable power but in addition to know whether or not these drivers cut back or enlarge the huge variations between India’s non-renewable and renewable power consumption ranges.

“While existing studies have either investigated how India’s Non-renewable Energy Consumption (NREC) level is determined or have evaluated factors affecting Renewable Energy Consumption (REC) levels within the country, no empirical study is available regarding the macroeconomic factors influencing the NREC-REC divide from India’s perspective.”

The scientists clarify that their goal is to not criticize India’s power consumption insurance policies however reasonably “to assist the Indian government in designing proper energy security policies with particular emphasis on boosting clean energy using propensities across India.”

They discover that India’s spectacular leap in world know-how innovation, a testomony to the nation’s technological progress and growth, might play a unfavorable position in its makes an attempt to lean extra on clear power.

Technological innovation is mostly believed to lower a rustic’s reliance on fossil fuels and different no-renewable sources of power. Nonetheless, the scientists found that not less than within the short-term, India’s advances in technological innovation will increase its reliance on non-renewable power consumption.

Within the quick time period, India might profit from its integration with the world economic system and fascinating in monetary globalization to cut back reliance on non-renewables and slash the present price of fossil carbon emissions, already among the many highest on the planet, the scientists say.

However this bit of fine information comes with a warning that with out satisfactory measures to curtail carbon emissions, India’s enlargement of worldwide commerce and additional integration into monetary globalization and growth would “boost NREC in the long-run,” the scientists keep.

If previous traits of power consumption and carbon emissions are any indication, India’s path to lowering dependence on fossil fuels remains to be lengthy. The authors point out “multiple constraining factors delaying the RET (Renewable Energy Transition) in India,” emphasizing the nation’s “poor state of infrastructure and insufficient financial investment” as among the many main ones.

“Moreover, it is worth noting that such failure to undergo the RET has further manifested the need for the Indian government to import coal for generating electricity and meeting the local energy demand.”

The scientists “alarmingly” cite statistics demonstrating “that not only has India failed to undergo the Renewable Energy Transition (RET) within its power sector, but also the nation’s fossil fuel reliance has persistently increased over time.”

“Notably, in 1990, renewable power accounted for 53% of India’s ultimate power consumption portfolio; nevertheless, this share dropped to beneath 35% by 2021.”