Page 5 - AsiaElec Week 08 2021

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

leading player with about 2.9 GW of operational the energy policy and investment framework
portfolio and another 11.8 GW of projects in the needed to drive forward economic growth. It
pipeline. needs find $1.4 trillion of additional investment
Other major developers were ReNew, Azure, in clean energy technologies over the next 20
Greenko, SB Energy and state-owned NTPC. years, 70% more that currently envisaged by the
Indian government.
Policy
The report’s findings come as India Prime Minis- Missing targets
ter Narendra Modi said on Friday (19 February) On the other hand, India’s coal-fired generation
that the government is “devoting great impor- fell by 5% in 2020, the second annual decline in a
tance to solar energy” as part of India’s transition row, as it was the fuel hit the hardest by COVID-
from fossil fuels to renewables. 19, a report from the think-tank Ember found.
The government had previously set a 175- Coal still accounted for 948 TWh, or 71% of
GW target for green capacity, including hydro, India’s electricity output, in 2020.
by 2022, and Modi has in the past said that the Ember also took issue with the government’s
government now wants 220 GW by 2020. green targets, stating that meeting the 175-GW
However, the country is set to miss its much target for 2022 would require generation to reach
vaunted ambition of installing 100 GW of solar 275 TWh, while green output in 2020 was less
by 2022, with most forecasts expecting the total than half of that at 118 TWh.
figure to reach 65 GW. As such, solar and wind in India is not
RMK’s data suggests that India will struggle expanding fast enough for the government to
to meet such targets as the COVID-19 held back meet its targets.
growth in the first half of the year, despite recov- Despite the country’s advantages, such as
ery in the second half. having one of the lowest levelized costs of elec-
Yet a recent report by the IEA stressed that tricity (LCOE) for solar in the world, according
rising demand for power is set to outstrip the to IHS Markit in its recent Clean Tech Trends
renewables sector’s ability to grow fast enough. report, the persistence of coal and rising power
The IEA said that India is forecast to show demand means that India will have a good
the world’s faster growth in energy demand by chance of continuing to fall short of its green tar-
2040, testing the government’s ability to provide gets in the decade ahead.™

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