R. K. Singh, the Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy and President of the International Solar Alliance, emphasized that achieving Net Zero would require global collaboration in addressing the challenges related to the insufficient diversification of solar manufacturing capacity and its associated supply chains.
The Minister also said that storage remains critical for greater utilization and Round-the-Clock provision of renewable energy. ‘Storage is a problem, since though the developed world kept talking about the need for energy transition, they did not do anything about it, they did not add storage and did not make progress on existing technologies. Most important, manufacturing capacity was not added. Today, about 90% of the solar manufacturing capacity is in one country, mostly dependent on one chemistry, i.e., lithium ion. This thus raises supply chain challenges, which came to the fore during the COVID-19 pandemic.’
He stressed that the round-the-clock renewable energy is not possible without storage. ‘Beyond a point, unless we have storage, adding renewable becomes wasteful. If we add capacity, we will have a huge quantity of solar energy during midday which gets wasted if we don’t have storage. As regards wind, when it is available, beyond a capacity, it will get wasted unless we have storage,’ the Minister said.
The President of ISA noted that although India has demonstrated one of the swiftest rates of energy transition, the nation has encountered obstacles resulting from inadequacies in manufacturing capacity.
Research is required in alternative storage chemistries and the expansion of manufacturing capacities
- The Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister emphasized the necessity for investment and research in alternative chemistries and manufacturing capacities.
- India has introduced the Production Linked Incentive Scheme to establish manufacturing for polysilicon, aiming to achieve 100 GW of solar module manufacturing capacity by 2030, including 50 GW integrated with polysilicon and wafers.
- The ISA President highlighted the significance of global collaboration in research and development for advancing solar technology.
- Acknowledging technological strides, he emphasized the need for diversifying research efforts beyond a single country to strengthen the solar supply chain.
The ISA President, acknowledging that there have been huge advances in technology, said however that the problem again is in the supply chain. ‘Most of the advances have been in one country. All countries need to get together and make sure that all of us do research in advancing solar technology. Research needs to be far wider, without being located in only one country.’
Enhancing solar efficiency is crucial for increasing the affordability of electricity in developing nations.
- Need to work on improving efficiencies of solar technologies, so that cost of electricity comes down, which would be especially required for developing countries. The need to collectively address climate change concerns remains imperative.
- Emphasizing the necessity for enhanced solar efficiencies, he highlighted the reduction in land requirement from 5 acres to 3.5 acres per 1 MW of solar power.
- While the cost of energy has decreased, variations in costs persist among countries.
- Higher efficiency levels can potentially lead to reduced electricity costs, benefiting developing nations where affordability is a challenge.
- In India, subsidies are provided to populations below a certain income threshold, a practice common among various developing countries.
- Given the limitations of government subsidies, increasing efficiency is crucial to ensure affordable access to electricity for underserved communities.
Financial support for developing countries is essential for enabling energy access and facilitating the energy transition
- Making finances available to developing countries through different instruments is key to ensuring energy transition.
- Large parts of our world just do not have the finance to provide energy access to their people, let alone make energy transition. Until and unless we assist these countries with finance, access and transition are not going to happen.
- Need for developed countries to keep their commitment towards financing green energy projects.
- Ensuring financial support from developed nations is crucial, although this has not been realized as promised in Kyoto and Paris agreements.
- Despite the emergence of certain green funds, the distribution of these funds to countries in need has been limited.
- While India has not required such funds, other countries may heavily rely on financial assistance for infrastructure development.
- The availability of green finance is imperative, and recent pledges in this regard have been encouraging.
- There is a need for continued global commitment to ensure the provision of necessary funds for sustainable development initiatives.
India is optimistic about surpassing its decarbonization goals set for 2030
- India has been taking decisive steps to contribute to the fight against climate change, despite its low per capita emissions.
- Our per capita emissions are one of the lowest in the world, about one third of the global average. Per capita emissions of the developed world are typically about three to four times the world average. We need to contribute towards the fight against climate change.
Speaking about the road ahead, the Minister said that India is confident of exceeding the targets it has set for 2030. ‘Today, our established non-fossil-fuel capacity is approximately 186 GW, out of which about 179 GW is renewable, the remaining being nuclear. We have planned to add 50 GW of renewable capacity each year, going to 500 GW renewable capacity by 2030. We have pledged in Glasgow that we will have 50% of our established capacity coming from non-fossil-fuels by 2030, we are confident that we will able to achieve 65%. We will also achieve way beyond our target of reducing our emission intensity by 45% by 2030.’
India is developing around 5.8 million tonnes of green ammonia manufacturing capacity
- About 5.8 million tonnes of manufacturing capacity of green ammonia are coming up in different parts of India.
- We shall continue in our drive to decarbonize our economy. This is not only about renewables, but also about other technologies like green hydrogen and green ammonia.
- India is on its way to emerging as one of the biggest manufacturers in the world of green hydrogen and green ammonia.
- We had about 5.8 million tonnes of manufacturing capacity of green ammonia coming up in different parts of the country. This is just the beginning.
- We are going to put mandates on different departments to switch over to green hydrogen and green ammonia, whether it is for fertilizers, refining, or any other sphere where fossil fuels are required.
