Renewable Energy Sector: A Major Contributor to India’s Green Recovery in Post Pandemic World

Traditionally, India has long focused on expansion of grid-based electricity to achieve universal electrification. But today, there is a gradual but steady shift in both policy action and consumer demand towards renewable energy-based power. The growing popularity of renewables is due in part to the global efforts to prevent climate change and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels. The last few years saw significant progress in terms of India’s transition to renewable energy-based electricity generation. The focus on renewables will continue as India initiates a green recovery process in the aftermath of the pandemic. This will gradually help the country reduce its oil import bill (greater push for electric vehicles) and ensure increased adoption of non-conventional energy sources.

The emergence of an integrated model – grid and off-grid electricity infrastructure – will further advance our efforts to provide reliable power to millions of rural households. Given India’s vast geographical expanse and remote settlements, mini-grids can appropriately complement the national grids and address the challenge of unreliable power supply. Our own experience in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Bihar show that the mini-grids are offering reliable electricity to customers in the absence of national grids or where electricity supply by the central grids is erratic.

Renewable Energy: Powering the Rural Economy

Even today, over 65 percent of India’s population lives in rural areas with agriculture as their primary source of income. But the entrepreneurial quest of rural India often goes unrealized in the absence of reliable electricity access. Our interventions in UP, Bihar and Odisha had not only provided reliable electricity to the underserved communities but also played a crucial role in improving the livelihoods of the households. The three key areas that will benefit from the availability of reliable power are as follows:

a) Rural healthcare: The rural Primary Health Centres can be modernized with state of the art infrastructure if reliable electricity is available to them. Around 65 percent of the rural population will benefit from these health facilities for their primary healthcare needs. Reliable power supply can provide crucial support to these health centres during medical emergencies such as night-time deliveries and minor surgeries.

b) Improving agricultural productivity: Farming continues to be the primary source of livelihood for over 65 per cent of Indians. But the agricultural productivity is significantly low in India and accounts for only 15.4 per cent of the GDP. Critical functions such as irrigation, harvesting, post-harvest handling and storage can be modernized and upgraded to improve the productivity and double the farmers’ income.

c) Supporting micro and small businesses: Rural India has a major contribution to make to achieve India’s USD 5 trillion economy goal by 2025. Formalisation of the rural economy is a critical step in this direction. As our experience shows, reliable electricity supply leads to creation and expansion of new enterprise opportunities such as training centres for computer skills, coaching institutes and travel agencies. This in turn leads to increased economic activities, job creation and consequent rise in per capita income for rural communities.




Renewable Energy: Enabling a Green Recovery in the Post Pandemic World

The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to have a negative impact on climate action as the fall in revenues and shortage of resources will force governments across the world to de-prioritize and shift their focus from climate change mitigation efforts at least in the immediate term. With a slowing economy and rising unemployment rates, India may find it even more difficult to remain focused on its climate commitments and pursue a green recovery. At the same time, the current crisis also provides opportunities for India and the world to adopt a sustainable economic model with increased investment in the renewable energy sector.

Therefore, as part of its green recovery, government of India should encourage efforts to reduce the carbon footprint in the electricity sector and incentivise the consumption of renewable energy. But currently, the electricity infrastructure is inadequate for renewable energy integration. As the demand for renewable energy rises, investments must be made to upgrade and build state of the art electricity infrastructure, including storage facilities, to manage fluctuations in demand and supply. Such investments will not only benefit the sector but will also create employment opportunities and newer income sources, especially for the rural populations. Infrastructure investments in the electricity distribution, generation and transmission space will have a domino effect on sectors such as manufacturing, transportation, IT and Consulting in terms of increased economic activity. This will ultimately help India regain its economic growth momentum but in a more sustainable way.

For India to initiate a green recovery process, supportive policy interventions will be critical in ensuring compliance and incentivising adoption. As a first step, we need to identify sectors and industries that will help India embrace a sustainable economic model in view of a green recovery. Subsequently, a strong investment plan needs to be drawn up to attract foreign investments to support the initial capital requirements. Sectors such as agriculture, mobility, electricity storage and renewable energy present immense possibilities for a green recovery.

A steady increase in their contribution to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will help India achieve its growth aspirations in the next 2-3 decades. As India gradually emerges from the second wave of the pandemic, it needs to start seriously considering a more sustainable economic model that will mitigate the negative impact of climate change and promote inclusive growth for all.

- Jaideep Mukherji, Chief Executive Officer,  Smart Power India