According to the World Economic Forum, India is edging closer towards achieving its target of generating nearly 60 per cent of electricity from non-fossil fuels by 2027. The Draft National Electricity Plan prepared by the Central Electricity Authority says that non-fossil fuel sources will constitute 57 per cent of India’s total electricity capacity by 2027.
This, the forum believes, exceeds the targets set in the Paris agreement by over 20 per cent. Accord de Paris, an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, sets the target at 40 per cent by 2030. India will inch ahead of the target three years before the deadline.
This assessment comes at a time when Harvard University chemist and energy innovator Daniel G. Nocera told IANS in an interview that India is headed for a green energy revolution. “I have no doubt about it. The revolution in renewable energy will happen in India”, Nocera said in the interview.
According to Tim Buckley, director at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, renewable energy transformation in India is driven by development of indigenous technology in the country that has cut down the cost of green energy by over 80 per cent in the last five years.
NDA government’s green energy push, coupled with increased private sector investment, has provided a boost to the renewable energy sector in the country. Not so long ago, the world's largest solar power plant was unveiled in Tamil Nadu’s Kamuthi town by the Adani Group. Foreign investment, including $20 billion pledged by Japan’s Softbank and Taiwanese company Foxconn, is fueling growth in the sector.