India’s Renewable Energy Resources

Introduction

India houses 18% of the world’s population while consuming only 6% of the world’s energy (IEA 2015). The country is host to the world’s largest population without access to electricity, a third of its households. These households typically rely on solid biomass for energy (Government of India 2017a). 1.6 billion people are expected to live in India by 2040, equating to an additional 600 million new electricity consumers. India’s economy is the world’s third largest economy by purchasing power parity and is projected to experience a 6.5% compound average annual growth between 2016 and 2040 (IMF 2017). Driven by this economic growth, the number of people with demand for modern power is projected to increase dramatically by 2040. Inspired by a policy of providing all citizens with electricity, a shift in the load profile caused by rapid urbanization and expansion in manufacturing initiatives, India will lead global energy growth from the current period to 2040 (IEA 2017)....

Appendix I

Abbreviations

COP21:

Conference of the Parties

CSP:

Concentrated solar power

FIT:

Feed-in tariffs

GDP:

Gross Domestic Product

GOI:

Government of India

GW:

GigaWatts

IEA:

International Energy Agency

IMF:

International Monetary Fund

INDC:

Intended Nationally Determined Contribution

INR:

Indian rupees

ISA:

International Solar Alliance

JRC:

Joint Research Centre

LCOE:

Levelized cost of energy

MNRE:

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Mtoe:

Million tonnes of oil equivalent

NITI:

National Institution for Transforming India

NIWE:

Institute of Wind Energy

NPBD:

National Project on Biogas Development

NPS:

New Policy Scenario

OECD:

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development

PV:

Photovoltaic

REC:

Renewable Energy Certificates

UNFCCC:

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

USD:

US dollars

VESP:

Village Energy Security Programme