INDIA ENERGY SECURITY

Installed capacity electricity:

India's energy security is going through one of the most interesting phases in recent times. India's GDP growth is expected to be highest among countries going forward. Environment being a big global concern and COP28 recently held, resolved to reduce global fossil fuel consumption. Anyway, India has little choice being poor in fossil fuels and more so if india grows at 7-8% in the coming years.  India has large quantity of very low quality of coal, Hydel power resources that are too risky to use because of being located in seismic zone and crude oil reserves and extraction are good enough to fulfil only 15% of india's total crude oil requirement. As large population with demand for jobs, cannot wait for clean energy to arrive, neither the administration, which has to make good of the demographic  dividend that is available now, the demand is to make solar energy the cheapest, easiest resource to be harnessed to the utmost potential.

In light of the above  India sees hope in harnessing solar power to fight off high fuel oil import bills, & thus create a sustainable energy solution. with fall in solar energy prices, heavy investment is needed to make the seamless transition.

India has announced a new goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2070. The country’s green power capacity continues to grow, and the country’s two wealthiest businessmen announced plans to invest thousands of crores in the field.
India has met its nationally defined contributions objective with a total non-fossil-based installed energy capacity of 160GW, or 40.1% of total installed electrical capacity, while still aiming for 170 GW by 2022. As of June-end of 2022, solar, wind, and hydropower accounted for 57.71 GW, 40.79 GW, and 51.74 GW, respectively. In the Union Budget for FY 2023, the country’s solar sector, which was recently named fifth among the world’s most attractive solar markets by IBEF, received the highest-ever outlay of Rs.33.7 billion, up 30% from Rs.26 billion in FY21.

Rajasthan — 14.45 GW
Rajasthan has the highest solar power generation potential of any state in the country. The state recently surpassed Karnataka as the leading state in solar installations. As of August 2022, Rajasthan’s operational solar power projects produced roughly 14454.70 MW of solar energy. Rajasthan plans to install 30,000 MW of solar energy capacity by 2025.With a capacity of 2,245 MW of installed solar energy, the 14,000-acre Bhadla Solar Park in Jodhpur is now the world’s largest fully operational solar park. Rajasthan is also home to India’s only solar thermal power plant with a tower.
Plans for a 25,000 MW ultra-mega renewable energy facility have been disclosed by the national government. During the first phase of the project, 10,000 MW of solar generating capacity will be installed throughout the state over the following three years.

Gujarat — 7.7 GW
Solar energy accounts for around 7782 MW of Gujarat’s total renewable energy production of 19,414.8 MW. The state has set a target of raising its renewable energy capacity to 68,000 MW by 2030. In the solar sector, Gujarat recently overtook Karnataka to become second largest solar producing state in the country. It occupies a 13% share of India’s total solar capacity. Moreover, the state accounts for 25% of the nation’s total rooftop capacity. The Charanka Solar Park in the Patan district, which now produces 600 MW, has Gujarat’s single-largest solar power-producing capacity.
Gujarat has recently identified 1,00,000 hectares of wasteland in the Kutch district to build the world’s largest renewable energy park with a 30,000 MW capacity. This project would be a mix of solar and wind power.

Karnataka — 7.5 GW
Karnataka, in India’s southwest, is the state is the third largest producer of solar energy in India. Karnataka has a total installed solar power capacity of around 7,500 MW – not including the 1,000 MW of projects in the queue.

2022-23(MARCH, 23)

Serial no.	Head	Installed capacity
	Total	4,20,000 MW
	Thermal	2,43,000 MW
	Coal
	Diesel
	GAS
	RENEWABLE ENERGY	1,75,000 MW
	SOLAR	65,000MW
	HYDEL( small+big)	(5 + 49)
	WIND	43,000 MW
	Nuclear power	6,000 MW

INDIA ENERGY SECURITY