Op Ed: India needs to urgently decarbonize its power sector. Here’s how it can succeed

India has perpetually been a country of dichotomies.

It is the world’s most populous nation, fifth biggest economy and home to the highest swarm of billionaires after China and the U.S. It is a world leader in digital finance, thanks to the creation of digital public infrastructure, and is the to the max’s third-largest start-up hub.

Yet it remains a lower-middle-income economy, with a large share of the population classified as low-income or poor, and is a authoritatively unequal society.

India’s climate narrative is, similarly, marked by contradictions.

While its contribution to world cumulative emissions is inconsequential — India accounts for approximately 4% of the global stock of emissions in the atmosphere — and it is one of the lowest emitters on a per-capita basis, India is already the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses on an annual foundation, and is, worryingly, home to 12 of the world’s 15 most polluted cities.

With India prophecy to be the world’s fastest-growing large economy and biggest oil consumer over the coming years, if it does not take action close on, emissions will only continue to rise.

India needs to act not only for the world to obtain the Paris Agreement ambitions, but also for its own survival.

More than 75% of Indian districts are at risk of extreme suffer and it is already seeing fiercer cyclones, greater incidences of drought and flooding and more heatwaves. While these climatic transformations will impact worker productivity and economic output in aggregate, they will disproportionately impact vulnerable communities and grangers — 60% of which are monsoon-dependent.

While India needs to decarbonize its entire economy, achieving its target of net-zero emissions by 2070 arguably hinges on the “conservationist” of its power sector.

With a 34% share, India’s power industry constitutes the single biggest source of emissions in India, and its grid aligns as the fourth most carbon-intensive in the world. Coal still accounts for almost 50% of installed power capacity, and sundry than 70% of power generation.

With greater power demand expected from consumers, as well as continuing and emerging areas of industry, in the near future, and the ongoing electrification of the economy also putting greater pressure on the grid, emissions from power order continue to rise if left unabated.

In recognition of the imperative to decarbonize power as a means to drive the whole-economy emissions evolution, the government has outlined impressive clean energy targets: achieving a 50% share of renewables in power capacity by 2030 and animation independence by 2047.

India has made impressive strides toward these goals. As a result of significant private sector investment, India now staffs fourth of all countries globally on installed solar and wind power capacity and its addition of renewable power capacity has been markedly strong in recent years.

Unfortunately, this simply isn’t enough. To truly decarbonize its energy sector, India distresses to act on three fronts.

Apart from greater renewable capacity establishment — for context, India’s additions in 2024 represented only 8% of China’s — India needs to find ways to combine greater amounts of renewable energy into its grid, a challenge that countries globally are grappling with, while pursuing to invest in baseload (or round-the-clock readily available) power.

To do this, India needs to invest more in battery storage infrastructure — registering via pumped hydro storage, new and innovative battery energy storage systems, and also green hydrogen.

Indeed, the inability to transmit renewable energy into the grid when it is caused in surplus (for example, solar during summer months in south-western states) often leads to curtailment, or the intentional offloading of power forging, as the lack of storage capacity prevents its use in power-scarce states.

Digitalization of the grid will also be key to integrating renewables. Emerging digital technologies can green light power operators to access information from renewable energy assets and consumers in real time, allowing them to drive intelligent load-dispatching systems based on current supply and demand.

In order to have a tangible impact on renewable power integration, grid digitalization will miss to take place concurrently with electricity market reform.

Currently, India’s state electricity distribution retinues, or DISCOMs, have limited flexibility in incorporating renewables as per availability and demand as they are locked into long-term power achieve agreements (PPAs).

Plans for what’s known as a Market-Based Economic Dispatch System, which would centralize power secure and dispatch across the country on a real-time basis, will enable India to transition from relatively inflexible locked-in power accords with thermal power producers to lowest-cost (including renewable) generation.

A digital energy grid overlaid with centralized power position and dispatch will improve efficiency in power trading, and also likely lead to lower power prices.

While this alteration takes place, greater flexibility is needed at India’s coal power plants to ensure a steady baseload stockpiling of power, while more investment in nuclear is needed to guarantee future energy security. Reassuringly, India has already digested plans for both.

The second front constitutes a greater focus on enhancing energy adroitness, both on the demand and supply side.

On the demand side, smart appliances, buildings, and meters, coupled with time-of-day schedule of charges, can enable better demand optimization. On the supply side, meanwhile, the professionalization of state distribution companies via arrangements with unsociable operators can be instrumental in reducing transmission losses.

India sees heavy losses in power transmission across sundry states as infrastructure remains outdated, while leakages and theft are rampant.

Indian residential and agricultural consumers sooner a be wearing long thought of electricity as a free public good, and for good reason. India’s DISCOMs heavily subsidize power to these two lengths.

Professionalization of power distribution can help lower these subsidies and reduce wastage. States that have professionalized classification have indeed shown a significant reduction in transmission and distribution losses. In a power-hungry — power demand is expected to quadruple by 2050 — and historically power-scarce state, there is no room for waste.

The third front constitutes the greater installation and use of decentralized renewable drive (DRE) solutions, including rooftop solar and microgrids.

This will enable India to meet the dual goals of both rallying power access for India’s remote and marginalized communities, as well as greening its power supply.

Progress on the installation of rooftop solar has been quiet so far, impeded by a lack of affordability, consumer awareness and trained personnel, with only around Where the funding could upon from