RENEWABLES

PM Modi bats for more RE and less fossil fuel or gas-based economy

The PM said the strategy for green growth stands on three pillars. First, increasing the production of renewable energy; second, reducing the use of fossil fuel in the economy; and finally, rapidly moving towards a gas-based economy in the country.

Modi said the country has already achieved the target of 10 per cent ethanol blending in petrol five months before time, and 40 per cent non-fossil fuel electricity generation has been achieved nine years in advance. India is moving with a target of production of 5 MMT green hydrogen. An allocation of Rs 19,000 crore has been made to incentivise the private sector in this field for electrolyser manufacturing, green steel manufacturing and long-haul fuel cells etc.

The PM also highlighted that India could produce 10,000 million cubic metres of biogas from cow dung and 150,000 cubic metres of gas, contributing up to 8 per cent to the city gas distribution in the country. The government has announced plans to set up 500 new plants under the GobardhanYojana. The government will spend Rs 10,000 crore on these modern plants, he said.

India needs Rs 2.5L crore for 500-GW green energy: Power ministry

As the 2030 deadline to transition to 500-GW non-fossil energy looms large, the Union Power Ministry has asserted that the country was on path to achieve the goal, but requires investments with the transmission works for the solar projects alone expected to cost Rs 2.5 lakh crore.

During the COP26 meet in November 2021, Prime Minister NarendraModi announced that India will have non-fossil electricity generation of 500 GW capacity by 2030. With the present installed capacity of renewable energy estimated at 160 GW, India has a long way to go to achieve the target.

“We are aiming to achieve 42% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030. If you talk of solar, we have about 61 GW at present and we are expecting close to 300 GW of installed capacity. The 500 GW transmission plan will require new investment of Rs 2.5 lakh crore for transmission alone. We estimate that 1 MW solar energy will require Rs 4 crore,” Power Secretary Alok Kumar said, adding that the country will require $10 billion by 2070 to achieve net zero.

India’s Solar Power Generation Rises to 95.15 BU in 2022

India generated around 95.15 billion units (BU) of solar power in the calendar year (CY) 2022, a 38% increase compared to 68.77 BUgenerated last year. Solar generation has seen continuous positive growth since 2018. The increase in overall solar power generation is due to new capacity additions during the year. Solar power generation during the fourth quarter of 2022 was 24.91 BU, a rise of 46% year-over-year from 17.1BU. The generation was up by 10% quarterover-quarter from 22.6 BU.

The Economic Survey 2022-23, which was tabled in the Parliament today ahead of the budget sessions, said that India has become a popular investment destination for renewables over the last few years. It said that between 2014 and 2021, the country attracted a totalinvestment of $78.1 billion in the renewable energy sector. Investment in renewables remained close to or exceeded $10 billion annually since2016, except for a dip in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company (IHC) has said it would invest AED1.4 billion ($400 million) through its subsidiary GreenTransmission Investment Holding into the Follow-on Public Offer (FPO) of Adani Enterprises. Adani’s $2.5 billion FPO received a lukewarm response when it opened, but IHC’s investment announcement has come as a shot in the arm for the Indianmultinational conglomerate.

Talks on to allow older solar units exemption from duty

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is again in talks with the finance ministry for giving 'grandfathering' benefits to solar power projects that were bid out before customs duty was announced on modules and cells in March 2021. The latest discussion may allow projects of around 26 GW capacity an exemption from the levy to import solar modules and cells.

The imposition of a 40% basic customs duty (BCD) duty on solar modules and 25% on solar cells came into effect in April 2022. The duty is levied to protect and encourage domestic manufacturing. No relief was given to any projects after the duties were announced.

Scheme for mini hydro projects in the works

The Centre is planning to start a programme to support small hydro power projects in the country. Currently, there is no programmeto support the sector in India.

“We want to come out with a new scheme for small hydro. It is still under planning. There was a scheme till 2017, but there has been no scheme since then. We have not had a scheme for small hydro for a long time. An initial draft has been prepared and it still under consideration," Secretary of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy sources said.The secretary however said that no decision have been made yet on the support required for small hydro projects.

Hydro power plants of 25 MW or below are classified as small, and they come under the purview of the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE). Currently, the installed capacity of small hydro power projects is 4.9 GW, which accounts for 1.2% of the total power capacity. India has an estimated potential of 21.1 GW from 7,133 sites for power generation from small and mini hydro projects, according to the Hydro and Renewable Energy Department (HRED).

Atomic energy to get lower allocation in FY24 at Rs 25,078 crore

The Indian atomic energy sector is expected to get Rs 25,078.49 crore which is lower than what it got in FY23. As per the Demand for Grants for 2023-24, the Department of Atomic Energy has been allocated a sum of Rs 25,078.49 crore as against the revised estimates (RE) of Rs 25,965.67 crore for 2022-23.

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) will get a sum of Rs 22,273 crore and the BharatiyaNabhikiyaVidyut Nigam Limited Rs 201 crore for FY24.

The other public sector companies under the Department of Atomic Energy - Indian Rare Earths Ltd will get Rs 120.30 crore, Uranium Corporation of India Ltd Rs 59.82 crore, and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd Rs 15 crore - during FY24.The Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle Projects (FRFCF) at Kalpakkam is proposed to get Rs 515.50 crore.

India Plans 20 Nuclear Power Plants By 2031

Recent government announcements on accelerating the use of nuclear power in India suggests a significant increase in the pace. Earlier in January, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said that public sector companies would be roped in to help build plants. Plans are afoot to commission at least 20 nuclear power plants by 2031, according to a December LokSabhareply.India has historically taken more than a decade to get plants in action.

The median construction time for nuclear plants -- which is the average construction time taken from the first pouring of concrete for the construction of the plant to the time it connects to the grid -- in India is 14.2 years. In comparison, it takes 5.7 years to connect a plant to the grid in China. Though it still has only a singledigit share in total electricity production, India has been looking to tap nuclear power faster by building plants in fleet mode.

Such plants are built in five years from the first pour of concrete.

In 2021, 3.2 per cent of the electricity produced in India was from nuclear sources, an increase from 2.8 per cent a decade ago India's share in the global nuclear production has doubled from 0.8 per cent to 1.5 per cent in the same period global nuclear power production will grow by 46 per cent by 2040 and 90 per cent of this increase in generation will take place in India and China.

India’s EV market likely to cross 1-crore sales mark per annum and add 5 crore jobs by 2030, as per Economic Survey

India's electric vehicles (EV) market is expected to grow to one crore units annual sales by 2030 and create 5 crore direct and indirect jobs, according to the Economic Survey 2022-23. The automotive industry is expected to play a critical role in the transition towards green energy. The domestic electric vehicles (EV) market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 49 per cent between 2022 and 2030.

As per industry estimates, the total EV sales in India stood at around 10 lakh units in 2022. India's auto component and system maker Anand Group launched a new platform, Anevolve, earlier this month to developecleantech in India. According to different media reports, Anevolve has recruited multiple EV component and vehicle manufacturing companies from Israel, Japan, South Korea, UK, and India. Furthermore, Anevolve signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with UK-based hydrogen fuel cell powertrain solution provider Viritech.

One of the partnerships is a joint venture with Japan's semiconductor startup Headspring. Nikkei Asia reported that the two companies plan to start mass-producing EV components for local and European carmakers operating in India. According to Electronics Weekly, Headspring will contribute proprietary technology for developing inverter and converter modules for EV powertrains and converters..