Page 4 - AsiaElec Week 06 2021

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

India’s quest to meet rising

energy demand

India’s rapidly growing energy demand highlights the need for investment
and supportive policies, the IEA finds, writes Richard Lockhart

INDIA THE IEA says India has the capability to meet households and businesses, the report finds.
its Paris Agreement goals and satisfy energy However, the transport and industrial sectors
WHAT: demand if it supports renewables and the energy – areas such as road freight, steel and cement –
India is set to see the transition will prove far more challenging to develop in a
largest increase in energy India is forecast to show the world’s fastest sustainable manner.
demand of any country growth in energy demand by 2040, testing the More than that of any other major economy,
over the next 20 years. government’s ability to provide the energy pol- India’s energy future depends on buildings and
icy and investment framework needed to drive factories that are yet to be built, and vehicles and
WHY: forward economic growth. appliances that are yet to be bought.
A rising population means For India, the main issue is to keep carbon Based on India’s current policy settings,
the government cannot intensity to the minimum and to foster the nearly 60% of its CO2 emissions in the late
hold back economic expansion of renewables, the IEA stated in a 2030s will be coming from infrastructure and
growth by failing to report published this week. machines that do not exist today.
provide good energy This energy transformation will require If India goes down this path, it would need
policies major advances in innovation, strong partner- to address the critical challenge of the industrial
ships and vast amounts of capital. sector through efforts such as more widespread
WHAT NEXT: electrification of processes, greater material and
The IEA says India has Investment energy efficiency, the use of technologies like
the capability to meet The IEA’s report says that India needs to find carbon capture, and a switch to progressively
its Paris Agreement $1.4 trillion of additional investment in clean lower-carbon fuels.
goals and satisfy energy energy technologies over the next 20 years, 70% Electrification, efficiency and fuel switching
demand if it supports more that currently envisaged by the Indian are also the main tools for the transport sector,
renewables and the government. alongside a determined move to build more
energy transition “India has made remarkable progress in sustainable infrastructure and shift more freight
recent years, bringing electricity connection to onto India’s soon-to-be-electrified railways.
hundreds of millions of people and impressively
scaling up the use of renewable energy, particu- COVID-19
larly solar,” said Dr Fatih Birol, IEA Executive The report warned that the coronavirus
Director. “What our new report makes clear is (COVID-19) pandemic could damage India’s
the tremendous opportunity for India to suc- chances of driving forward the energy transition.
cessfully meet the aspirations of its citizens Prior to the pandemic, India’s energy
without following the high-carbon pathway that demand had been projected to increase by
other economies have pursued in the past.” almost 50% between 2019 and 2030, according
India’s energy use has doubled since 2000, to IEA data, but COVID-19 has pushed this
with 80% of demand still being met by coal, oil down to 25-35%.
and solid biomass. The latter would put some of India’s hard-
On a per capita basis, India’s energy use and won gains in the fight against energy poverty
emissions are less than half the world’s average, at risk, as lower-income households are forced
as are other key indicators such as vehicle own- to fall back on more polluting and inefficient
ership, steel and cement output. sources of energy.
India’s effort so far has concentrated on the It would also extend the slump in energy
expansion of solar power, combined with smart investment, which the IEA estimates to have
policy-making, to transform India’s electricity slumped by 15% in India in 2020.
sector, enabling it to provide clean, afforda- Even though the pandemic and its after-
ble and reliable power to a growing number of math could temporarily suppress emissions, as

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