India needs 600 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 to meet demand

This would include a mix of solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear energy.

India was told to scale up its non-fossil-fuel capacity to 600 gigawatts (GW)  by 2030 to meet its growing electricity demand reliably and affordably, according to a new by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).

In its “How Can India Meet Its Rising Power Demand? Pathways to 2030,” CEEW said that if energy demand were to continue to outpace current projections due to a warming planet or strong economic growth over the coming five years, a high renewable energy pathway of 600 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 is the most viable solution.

This will be mainly due to cheaper renewable energy resources,  which should include 377 GW of solar, 148 GW of wind, 62 GW of hydro, and 20 GW of nuclear energy.

Significant investments in flexible resources are also needed to achieve the 600 GW. This would include battery storage (70 GW of four-hour battery energy storage systems), pumped storage hydro (13 GW), and retrofitting 140 GW of coal capacity to manage grid stability.

To accelerate its energy transition, CEEW urges India’s Ministry of Power to set a clear target of 600 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 and integrate it into the National Electricity Policy. It must also promote a technologically and geographically diverse renewables portfolio.

The ministry should also work with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and other agencies to identify models to utilise existing land and transmission infrastructure by co-locating wind and storage with solar projects, implement a Uniform RE Tariff (URET) to tackle concerns about falling clean energy prices, innovate bidding and contract designs, and unlock de-risked merchant capacity for RE sales.