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Reports
Renewables Rich Rajasthan can Lead
India’s Energy Transition: IEEFA
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As India looks to expand its renewable energy capacity, a new report from IEEFA finds that Rajasthan can play a key leadership role in India’s transition to a low-cost, lowemission, profitable electricity system.
The state’s installed renewable energy capacity reached 9.6 gigawatts (GW) at the
end of fiscal year (FY) 2019/20. It also added more solar power capacity (1.7 GW) in FY 2019/20 than any other Indian state, ahead of Karnataka (1.4 GW), the state with the highest installed solar capacity, and Tamil Nadu (1.3 GW).
“Rajasthan has a bright future as a renewable energy leader in India,” said the report’s author Kashish Shah, Research Analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). “But its power distribution companies (Discoms) are among the worst performing in India.” Expensive coal-fired capacity tariffs coupled with huge aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses led to the Rajasthan discoms booking a loss of Rs 6,355 crore in FY2019/20 after accounting for state government subsidies.
“A shift to cheaper renewable capacity could help alleviate the Discoms’ financial liquidity and cash flow issues,” said Shah.
The state has high solar radiation and wind speeds and an abundance of barren land that will make it suitable for utilityscale solar parks. A testament of which is that it is already home to the world’s largest solar park – the 2.25 GW Bhadla Solar Park, located in Jodhpur district.
“These factors make Rajasthan an attractive destination for domestic and foreign investors looking for opportunities in renewable energy, electricity grid infrastructure and associated manufacturing,” said Shah.
The World can and Must Achieve Net-Zero Emissions by 2050: Report
Anew report by the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC) argues in its new report that the world can and must achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century and that “zero must mean zero” with no permanent reliance on negative emissions to balance continued energy and industrial emissions. It also lays out the steps needed in the next decade to achieve that objective.
In the report ‘Making Mission Possible – Delivering A Net-Zero Economy’, the ETC shows that clean electrification must be the primary route to decarbonisation: it highlights that dramatic falls in the cost of renewable energy make this easily affordable and argues that all growth in electricity supply should now come from zero-carbon sources with no need to build any new coal-fired power capacity to support economic growth and rising living standards.
The report demonstrates that it is technically and economically possible to have a carbon-free economy by around mid-century at a total cost of less than 0.5% of global GDP by taking three overarching steps:
Using less energy while improving living standards in developing economies, by
achieving dramatic improvements in energy efficiency and shifting to a circular economy;
Scaling up clean energy provision by building massive generation capacities of cheap clean power, at a pace five to six times higher than today, as well as expanding other zero-carbon energy sources such as hydrogen; Using clean energy across all sectors of the economy by electrifying many applications in buildings, transport and industry, and deploying new technologies and processes using hydrogen, sustainable biomass or carbon capture in sectors that cannot be electrified, like heavy industry or long-distance shipping and aviation.
bp Energy Outlook Explores Possible Paths for Global Energy Transition
The 2020 edition of the bp Energy with decisive policy measures and more optimistic about the future and I hope Outlook explores possible paths low carbon choices from both companies readers will find the report helpful as we for the global energy transition, and consumers, the energy transition all try to make a difference.” how global energy markets may evolve still can be delivered,” said Bernard The Outlook explores the energy over the next thirty years and the key Looney, CEO of bp. transition to 2050 using three main uncertainties that may shape them. “It is one of the reasons I remain scenarios. These are not predictions but, Looking out to 2050, the based on alternative Outlook is focused around assumptions about policies three main scenarios. and societal preferences, are
In the main scenarios, it designed to help explore the considers, global energy range of outcomes possible demand continues to grow over the next thirty years. for at least part of the period Rapid assumes the to 2050. However, over this introduction of policy time, the structure of energy measures, led by a significant demand fundamentally increase in carbon prices, shifts, with a declining role that result in carbon for fossil fuels offset by an emissions from energy use increasing share for falling by around 70% by renewable energy and a 2050 from 2018 levels. Rapid growing role for electricity. is broadly in line with
“Even as the pandemic has scenarios that are consistent dramatically reduced global with limiting the rise in carbon emissions, the world global temperatures by 2100 remains on an unsustainable to well below 2°C above prepath. However, the analysis industrial in the Outlook shows that, levels.
The US solar market installed 3.5 gigawatts (GW) of new solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in Q2 2020, a drop of 6 percent from Q1 installations. At the same time, utility-scale solar remained resilient despite the COVID-19 pandemic, representing 71 percent of all new solar capacity brought online in Q2.
However, the US Solar Market Insight Q3 2020 report, released by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, noted that the residential and nonresidential segments saw a significant slowdown in the quarter. Installations were down 23 percent quarter over quarter in the residential segment, and 12 percent quarter over quarter in the non-residential sector, due to restrictions and shelter-inplace orders imposed to curb the pandemic.
“The growth we see in this report underscores the resilience of the solar industry as we deal with Covid work stoppages, a struggling economy, harmful trade policy and an uncertain tax environment,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, President and CEO of SEIA. “Tens of thousands of our workers have been laid off or furloughed amid this crisis, and SEIA remains firm in our commitment to fight for equitable policy that allows the solar industry to compete and grow our workforce.”
Solar accounted for 37 percent of all new electric generating capacity added in the US in the first half of 2020, as Texas and Florida each
installed over 900 megawatts (MW) across distributed and utility solar in Q2. The report said a total of 8.7 GWdc of new utility PV power-purchase agreements were announced in the second quarter, bringing the contracted pipeline to a total of 62 GWdc.
