APT Translations

While India urgently needs renewable energy for economic growth and to combat climate change, development must not come at the cost of excessive use of natural resources, said S P Yadav, the director general of the International Big Cat Alliance.

​He said the country will require investment of around Rs 30 lakh crore for meeting the 500 GW clean energy capacity target by 2030. The ministry has asked the public and the private sector banks to work out a plan for investment for the coming 5 years for fund renewable energy projects.

​The prime minister underscored India's commitment to its Paris Agreement goals, noting that the country met its green energy targets nine years ahead of schedule. He pointed to the rapid growth in India's non-fossil fuel capacity, which saw a nearly 300% increase, and the expansion of solar energy capacity by over 3,000%.

CESC Limited has chosen its subsidiary, Purvah Green Power, to develop a 300 MW solar PV project. Half of the capacity will be under tariff-based competitive bidding in India, with the rest under the greenshore option. The power purchase agreement will last for 25 years, starting from the scheduled commencement of power supply.

India's Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, highlighted the country's potential in green hydrogen production due to its abundant solar energy and investments in the power grid. With a target of 5 million tonnes by 2030, the government has implemented policies and incentives to boost production, aiming to reduce fossil fuel imports and create jobs.

The project, focused on green hydrogen production, will supply green hydrogen to the specialty chemical sector on a Build Own and Operate (BOO) basis, with a firm offtake agreement for 20 years.

India has taken active steps in this direction, which include the formulation of a storage requirement roadmap up to 2047, technology-agnostic storage tenders, and supportive govt interventions for battery manufacturing and pumped storage hydropower projects.

According to the study titled ‘Unlocking India’s RE and Green Hydrogen Potential: An Assessment of Land, Water, and Climate Nexus,’ even reaching the over 7,000 GW required to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070 will require “addressing challenges such as land access, climate risks, land conflicts, and population density”.

The International Energy Agency estimates that total electricity consumption by data centres around the world could double from 2022 levels to 1,000 TWh (terawatt hours) in 2026, equalling the level of Japan’s electricity demand. AI will result in data centres using 4.5% of global energy generation by 2030, according to calculations by research firm SemiAnalysis.

To accelerate the transition to clean cooking technologies and fuels among others, the Kenyan government established a Bioenergy Strategy (2020-2027) which promotes sustainable bioenergy production and consumption.