India needs $101b to meet wind, solar targets

This is to meet the International Energy Agency's Net Zero Emission pathway.

India would require additional funding of $101b to meet its targets under the International Energy Agency’s Net-Zero Emission roadmap that expects the country to triple its target with 32% of its power coming from solar and 10% from wind by 2030.

In a report, think tank Ember said the country needs $293b to meet the targets under its 14th National Electricity Plan, to reach 602 kilowatt-hours of solar generation and 237 terawatt-hours of wind power by 2030.

However, to meet the IEA’s target, the country should increase its solar generation to 819 TWh and wind to 259 TWh by 2030, pushing its combined wind and solar capacity to 571 gigawatts.

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To achieve the IEA’s pathway, India would need a top-up investment of around $68b for solar, $8b for wind, $14b for storage and $11b for transmission capacity additions.

“To further step up ambitions to match a global net-zero pathway, securing significantly more financing at competitive rates will be vital to ensure the viability for India to reach the goal,” Neshwin Rodrigues, India Electricity Policy analyst at Ember, said. 

“Access to this finance is critical for India to avoid building new coal capacity to meet its growing demand in this decade,” he added.