16
B. Baruah and R. Nath
2.2 BRICS: Role of India
The Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) report on India reflects that the Government has launched numerous schemes for its cities and villages to transform to
meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for energy. As per the report, over
300 million Indians in rural areas are having no power connections. The government
of India had set a target for universal household electrification within December
2018. The report also identifies short, medium and long term High Impact Opportunities (HIO’s) which would support sustainable energy for all sectors. Some of
the HIO’s include renewable energy sources, storage facilities of these energies and
implementation of smart grids, solar energy efficient pumps for agriculture, etc.
India, being one of the fastest growing countries in the field of renewable energy,
is planning to increase the production of renewable energy by 40% within 2030
(Chu and Majumdar 2012). This would increase the capacity of renewable energy to
175 GW. The incorporation of such huge capacity in the field of renewable energy
would, in turn, reduce emissions intensity by 33–35% over 2005 levels (Solar Power
in India 2019). To reach this rather ambitious aim India undertakes the following
steps:
In June 2018, Siemens Gamesa, Renewable solution provider, addressed that it has
bagged an order in the field of Wind Energy from India’s largest renewable energy
Independent Power Producer, Re New Power, for the construction of a 150 MW
wind farm located in the Kutch district of Gujarat. Since 2009, Siemens Gamesa has
installed over 5 GW of renewable energy in various parts of the country. One of the
fastest developing energy sectors in India is Solar Energy. The Government of India
had a target to increase the capacity by 20 GW by the year 2022. According to the
report by the Indian Government, this target was fulfilled way before four years than
the stipulated time and as of 31 March 2019; the country’s solar installed capacity
already reached 28.18 GW. With the increasing capture of the market by the solar
sector, this target was raised to 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022 of which 40 GW
was the target set for rooftop solar (News on Renewable 2019). The budget set for
the total investment was USD100 billion. Following the target set, 3 GW of solar
capacity was commissioned in 2015–2016, 5 GW in 2016–2017 and over 10 GW in
2017–2018 which bought down the price of solar electricity by 18% below the price
of the electricity produced by coal (Solar Power in India 2019).
In addition to its solar photovoltaic (PV) large scale grid connection, India is
expanding its off-grid solar energy local urban and rural energy needs. The rapid
growth of solar energy has reduced drastically the use of kerosene in rural areas.
Developer Azure Power has commissioned its largest solar-power project in the
Indian state of Punjab, with a capacity of 150 MW (Goswami and Zhao 2009). The
project occupies 713 acres of land and will cater to the power requirements of the
local community while generating an estimated 1000 jobs within the community. The
new plant constitutes a portfolio of three projects each with a capacity of 50 MW.
The company noted that the weighted average tariff on these projects is INR 5.63
(USD0.083) per kWh and Azure Power will supply Punjab State Power Corporation
B. Baruah and R. Nath
2.2 BRICS: Role of India
The Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) report on India reflects that the Government has launched numerous schemes for its cities and villages to transform to
meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for energy. As per the report, over
300 million Indians in rural areas are having no power connections. The government
of India had set a target for universal household electrification within December
2018. The report also identifies short, medium and long term High Impact Opportunities (HIO’s) which would support sustainable energy for all sectors. Some of
the HIO’s include renewable energy sources, storage facilities of these energies and
implementation of smart grids, solar energy efficient pumps for agriculture, etc.
India, being one of the fastest growing countries in the field of renewable energy,
is planning to increase the production of renewable energy by 40% within 2030
(Chu and Majumdar 2012). This would increase the capacity of renewable energy to
175 GW. The incorporation of such huge capacity in the field of renewable energy
would, in turn, reduce emissions intensity by 33–35% over 2005 levels (Solar Power
in India 2019). To reach this rather ambitious aim India undertakes the following
steps:
In June 2018, Siemens Gamesa, Renewable solution provider, addressed that it has
bagged an order in the field of Wind Energy from India’s largest renewable energy
Independent Power Producer, Re New Power, for the construction of a 150 MW
wind farm located in the Kutch district of Gujarat. Since 2009, Siemens Gamesa has
installed over 5 GW of renewable energy in various parts of the country. One of the
fastest developing energy sectors in India is Solar Energy. The Government of India
had a target to increase the capacity by 20 GW by the year 2022. According to the
report by the Indian Government, this target was fulfilled way before four years than
the stipulated time and as of 31 March 2019; the country’s solar installed capacity
already reached 28.18 GW. With the increasing capture of the market by the solar
sector, this target was raised to 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022 of which 40 GW
was the target set for rooftop solar (News on Renewable 2019). The budget set for
the total investment was USD100 billion. Following the target set, 3 GW of solar
capacity was commissioned in 2015–2016, 5 GW in 2016–2017 and over 10 GW in
2017–2018 which bought down the price of solar electricity by 18% below the price
of the electricity produced by coal (Solar Power in India 2019).
In addition to its solar photovoltaic (PV) large scale grid connection, India is
expanding its off-grid solar energy local urban and rural energy needs. The rapid
growth of solar energy has reduced drastically the use of kerosene in rural areas.
Developer Azure Power has commissioned its largest solar-power project in the
Indian state of Punjab, with a capacity of 150 MW (Goswami and Zhao 2009). The
project occupies 713 acres of land and will cater to the power requirements of the
local community while generating an estimated 1000 jobs within the community. The
new plant constitutes a portfolio of three projects each with a capacity of 50 MW.
The company noted that the weighted average tariff on these projects is INR 5.63
(USD0.083) per kWh and Azure Power will supply Punjab State Power Corporation