600 GW non-fossil fuel capacity needed to meet power demand

STUDY PROJECTS THAT DEPLOYING 600 GW OF CLEAN ENERGY ACROSS STATES COULD REDUCE GENERATION COSTS BY 6-18 PAISE

- Jayashree Nandi

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

The study, titled "How Can India Meet Its Rising Power Demand? Pathways to 2030," is the first to model India's power system dispatch for every 15 minutes in 2030. According to the study, if electricity demand grows as projected by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), India's existing, under-construction, and planned generation capacities would be adequate to meet power needs in 2030.

However, if power demand outpaces current projections due to climate change-induced warming or strong economic growth, a high renewable energy (RE) pathway of 600 GW of non-fossil capacity offers the most viable solution, the researchers concluded.

"This would include 377 GW of solar, 148 GW of wind, 62 GW of hydro, and 20 GW of nuclear energy," the CEEW study stated.