India has an opportunity to build a New Energy Future: Sumit Agarwal, Solruf

Currently, India is the world's third-largest consumer of electricity, consuming 1,547,000 GW-H/YR in the fiscal year 2018, with a wide range of economic development opportunities as a result of Indian government policies. By January 2021, the installed capacity of coal and lignite-based energy plants is 54.7 percent, much exceeding the 10.3 percent capacities of solar and wind power plants. Fossil fuels will be depleted by 2060, there is an urgent need to transform the world infrastructure from fossil-fuel-based to sustainable energy generation.

Renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, and biogas, have a lower environmental impact than fossil fuels. For India, the local oil supply is slipping behind demand and dependency would increase from 75% in 2020 to 90% in 2040. This significant reliance on oil in this unstable supply scenario will result in susceptible and variable oil prices, posing a threat to India's energy security.

India is encouraging reliance on renewable energy generation for prospects, with the government proposing a goal of constructing 450GW of renewable energy-based power plants by 2030. India is in a better position than other Western countries because it has yet to fully realize its industrialization and manufacturing sector capabilities. In contrast to the large fossil fuel-based industry expansion in Western and numerous developed countries, India may therefore push the dependency of forthcoming businesses on renewable energy generation and consumption. As a result, India can achieve long-term economic development by making development easier and more structured.

According to India's existing policy choices, approximately 60% of its CO2 emissions in the late 2030s will come from infrastructure and machines that do not yet exist. Many reasons will point to an increase in India's energy demand soon. Looking at current patterns, economic progress has resulted in large-scale population relocation from rural to urban areas in India. Rural manufacturing and industry divisions are also being supported through government initiatives such as "Make in India’’.

Economic development is directly proportional to a person's purchasing habits; thus, the average number of appliances a person uses will rise dramatically in the future. These combined with massive industrial growth in India will result in highly unpredictable and surplus energy demand. Grid stability, which is capable of predicting real-time energy demand and catering to it efficiently without wasting excessive energy, will play a critical role in maintaining India's energy security soon.

However, techniques of electricity generation using renewable energy require research and development to raise the efficiency and decrease the commercial manufacturing price of such systems. The efficiency of ordinary solar cells is 33.7 percent. Multi-junction cells can attain higher efficiency, the highest being 47.1 percent. Perovskite solar cells are based on lab-grown crystals and have greater efficiency than commercial market cells while being less expensive. However, they are environmentally unstable and require additional research and development to achieve the long-term reliability of silicon solar cells. Bladeless wind turbines, also known as Skybrators, are becoming more popular due to their lower environmental impact and higher efficiency when compared to standard wind turbines.

Energy storage technology innovation is moving away from classic designs. As a result, India's storage systems have a promising future. India should also encourage the use of solar technology because it has the potential to be scalable enough to meet the entire country's energy needs while also being environment-friendly. India lags behind other countries in the development of solar technology, such as China and the United States, and has to increase its research and development efforts, as well as accelerate the research to the commercial manufacturing process. To address the shortage in the solar production industry, the Government of India is offering tax breaks for the establishment of solar cell manufacturing factories. To boost residential and commercial solar adoption, the government is providing incentives in the form of subsidies of up to 40%, for the installation of solar plants with capacities of up to 500KW.

According to government policies, the latest survey shows that by 2047, the solar potential will be more than 750 GW and the wind potential will be 410 GW. The goal for the near future is to produce 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022. The ambitious aim of 175 GW of renewable energy generation includes 100 GW from solar energy, 10 GW from bio-power, 60 GW from wind power, and 5 GW from small hydropower facilities. To achieve this goal, the Indian government must develop new jobs as well as new prospects for livelihood. As a result, the Indian renewable energy sector has grown more appealing to investors. Investors have promised to achieve more than 270 GW, which is significantly more than the predetermined targets. Based on present policy settings, a cumulative investment of $1.4 trillion over 20 years is required to attain the stated target.

As a result, we can say that India has a great chance to transition the country's infrastructure to clean energy while also experiencing rapid economic growth. As a corporation, we will work hard to meet this goal and contribute to the use of renewable energy.