“India has a renewable vitality (RE) potential of over 24,000 GW, however even reaching the round 7,000 GW required to attain net-zero emissions by 2070 would require a holistic method to addressing challenges reminiscent of land entry, local weather dangers, land conflicts, and inhabitants density, the report mentioned.
“India at present has an put in RE capability of 150 GW, and as much as 1,500 GW the constraints are comparatively manageable. The research highlights that deployment past 1,500 GW might face important challenges as a number of constraints intensify, narrowing the runway to succeed in the net-zero goal,” it added.
Want for resilience, innovation
The research, ‘Unlocking India’s RE and Inexperienced Hydrogen Potential: An Evaluation of Land, Water, and Local weather Nexus’, emphasises that scaling up RE would require strategic land use, improved water administration, and resilient energy grid infrastructure.
CEEW CEO Arunabha Ghosh mentioned, “Whereas our RE potential is huge, the highway to internet zero is fraught with challenges. From land conflicts and inhabitants density to the unpredictable however simple impression of local weather change, each step ahead will demand resilience and innovation.”
The research additionally highlights that Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, with excessive RE potential backed by land banks and infrastructure to evacuate renewable energy and handle seasonality, might emerge as key gamers in assembly India’s renewable vitality ambitions within the coming many years.
A substantial portion of India’s RE potential is in areas marked by excessive local weather dangers and land costs — solely 18 per cent of onshore wind potential and 22 per cent of photo voltaic potential is in areas with low local weather dangers and land costs.
Nonetheless, the challenges in realising this potential enhance when different constraints reminiscent of inhabitants density, land conflicts and seasonality of solar energy are factored in.
CEEW fellow Hemant Mallya mentioned, “Land and water are important assets for scaling up RE and inexperienced hydrogen in India. Prevention of desertification and modern options to deal with land availability, reminiscent of agro-voltaics in horticulture and rooftop photo voltaic in dense Indian cities, will likely be important.”
Furthermore, as RE initiatives transfer into areas with larger local weather dangers, insurance coverage corporations might more and more hesitate to offer protection. Involving all stakeholders within the early stage of renewable mission improvement and addressing local weather dangers will assist guarantee initiatives are commercially viable in the long term, he added.
Suggestions
The research recommends validating potential utilizing high quality knowledge and on-ground assessments, as present knowledge could not absolutely mirror actual situations.
States ought to set up graded land banks that think about RE high quality, water availability, and proximity to infrastructure to make sure speedy mission improvement.
Evaluating and enhancing grid infrastructure and resilience are important, notably in areas with excessive RE seasonality, to help large-scale deployment.
Moreover, revising water administration insurance policies to prioritise vitality manufacturing and assessing the necessity for floor water storage will likely be important to sustaining inexperienced hydrogen manufacturing and mitigating useful resource challenges.
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