Advancing Renewable Energy Integration in India’s Power Sector: Technical and Policy Challenges and Progress
摘要
India is the third-largest consumer of energy, owing to the increasing demand from the ever-evolving population. The need to efficiently cater to these demands in an eco-friendly manner is one of the country’s major challenges. According to the India Climate and Energy Dashboard (ICED), conventional energy sources meet 53% of national energy requirements, highlighting the need for the integration of renewable energy into the country’s power sector. This chapter focuses on various strategies, policies, and regulations implemented by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) lately to advance the renewable energy utilization in the country, including solar, wind, hydro, bio, and nuclear energy. Important schemes like PM-JANMAN, PM-KUSUM, VGF for offshore wind projects, National Bioenergy Program, and National Power Development scheme are a few of the discussed policies. This chapter also focuses on the challenges faced by India to amalgamate these schemes into the present energy scenario, both in terms of technical and policy implementation aspects. Stating these challenges, we also discuss the current efforts made, and the future plans to tackle these hurdles, in order to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070, by deriving inspiration from countries like Germany, and South Korea. This chapter hence emphasizes the consistent efforts made by the Indian government with respect to renewable energy with the mission of a “green country.”