India has promised at the COP26 that it will reach Net Zero emission by 2070. How feasible is this promise considering the existing policies and financial gaps in the renewable energy space of India? This edition of ‘Impact at scale’ will analyse the roadblocks to keeping our promises.
1 Question:
- PM Kusum has an ambitious target of moving India to become a green energy hub. But,does India possess the skills to influence consumers, set up renewable energy production such as solar panels, and sustain this new infrastructure?
2 Perspectives:
- The government has set an ambitious goal of achieving a renewable energy capacity of 175 GW by the end of 2022, and to increase it to 450 GW by 2030 (India’s total installed capacity — for all energy sources — was a little under 369 GW at the end of January 2020). This will require a massive growth in momentum for the adoption of rooftop solar.
- By adopting green corridor initiatives, India is targeting to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels. To decrease the production footprint, we need to decentralise renewable energy and make communities energy self-sufficient.
3 Factors:
- Meeting even the 2022 goal requires the creation of upto 3.3+ lakh jobs in construction, project commissioning and design, business development, and operations and maintenance (O&M).
- To maintain green power plants, India requires more than 8+ lakh engineers and low-mid level laborers.
- To remotely and rapidly build skill low and mid-level technicians at this scale in remote corners of the country, we need the joint force of EdTech coupled with vernacular action-learning content.
We need a cadre of technicians trained to be advocates and caretakers for renewable technology to become the new normal. New initiatives and potential talent hunting will ensure the successful transformation from India being the energy importer towards being the world’s largest green energy exporter.
“One of the most exciting opportunities created by renewable energy technologies like solar is the ability to help the world’s poorest develop faster – but more sustainably too.” – Ed Davey
Until next time,
Dr. Gayathri Vasudevan
