Will India Surge Ahead Of The West In Renewable Energy?

By Climate Guest Blogger on Nov 30, 2012 at 9:21 am

by Hannah Green

This August, power shortages in India that left 300 million in the dark made it very clear that one of the world’s fastest growing economies was facing an energy crisis. Less clear is how realistically to solve it. Many firms are looking for new sources of oil to fulfill India’s growing energy demands, but this could prove to be painfully expensive.  On the brighter side, solar energy and other renewable resources are already being rapidly harnessed in the non-Western world, and they are becoming cheaper and cheaper.

As of June 2012, 31 percent of India’s energy came from renewable resources, including hydroelectric power, while only 9 percent of the United States’ did as of the end of 2011. In a 2009 McKinsey & Company survey, India was rated the top producer of solar energy in the world, just above the United States, with an annual yield of 1,700 to 1,900 kilowatt hours per kilowatt peak (kWh/KWp). However, demand for energy in India will only continue to grow, and the question is whether energy will continue to come mainly from fossil fuels or from renewable energy sources

Many hope so. Current local and imported supplies of gas and coal in India are insufficient to fulfill energy demands, and both investing in sufficient imported fossil fuels to keep India electrified or extracting new natural gas sources will hurt the Indian economy, according to a report by Boston Consulting Group. Hunting for shale gas is a risky and expensive venture, and creating Liquid Natural Gas facilities to ease the transport of imported oil would also require an investment of $12 – $25 billion. However, hydroelectric, wind, and solar power sectors are all growing. Hydroelectric power already accounts for 19 percent of India’s electricity, but at the moment less than half of available hydroelectric resources are being exploited.  Several solar power initiatives by state governments and the department of renewable resources are currently at work in India, the largest of which is the Jawarhal Nehru National Solar Mission, launched in 2010. The goal of the $19 billion plan is to harness 20,000 MW of grid power solar energy and 2000 MW of off-the-grid solar energy by 2020.

Part of the reason that solar power is becoming so affordable for India is that the demand for it is decreasing in the West. China’s solar power industry has recently faced an excess manufacturing capacity because of EU cutbacks on solar subsidies. That’s bad news for China, but good news for the Indian solar industry.

by Hannah Green

This August, power short