• India has set its sights on becoming energy independent by 2047 and achieving net zero CO₂ emissions by 2070.
• An energy transition will play a critical role in achieving these targets.
• This calls for a complete transformation of how India produce, transport, and consume energy.

Energy Transition in G20

G20:

• G20 member countries account for about 75% of global energy demand and 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
• The Energy Ministers Communiqué issued during Italy’s G20 presidency announced a target of net-zero carbon emissions and this goal was reiterated during Indonesia’s 2022 presidency as well.

India:

• Despite being home to over 1.4 billion people, India’s contribution to the world’s cumulative emissions is less than 4%.
• India’s annual per capita emissions are about one-third of the global average.
• India is the only G20 nation that is well ahead of its climate-change mitigation targets

Key Challenges in Energy Transition

1. Energy Production

• Even after doubling renewable energy production in the past decade, its share of total primary energy consumption has grown from 10% in 2015 to 13% in 2021,
• The use of fossil fuels is also expanding to meet the growing energy demand. it grew by 10% from 2015 to 2021.
• The highest growth in renewable capacity was seen in lower-middle-income countries (solar 1,298%; wind 134%; and hydro 24%), followed by upper-middle-income countries (solar 702%; wind239%; and hydro 14%) and then high-income countries (solar 163%; wind 72%; and hydro 1%).
• Hence, to close a gap between the current emissions trajectory and a path towards capping global average temperatures at 1.5 ° Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the production of clean and green energy is vital.
• The deployment of renewable energy capacities in the energy mix must almost triple over the coming decade, to 500 Gigawatts (GW) annually, from an average of about 180GW from 2015 to 2021.
• India is the world’s third largest producer of renewable energy, with about 43% of its installed capacity (roughly 175GW) being renewable.
• Key Challenges: intermittency and grid stabilization.

How Energy storage technologies can solve these challenges?

• It will play a key role in ensuring a continuous supply of renewable energy, by reducing peak energy needs, and help us deal with the problem of intermittency, and improving overall grid management.
• New advances in storage technology will provide long-term energy-storage solutions. It includes:
• Electrochemical (primarily battery technologies like sodium-ion and flow batteries),
• Mechanical (pumped hydro, flywheel),
• Chemical (hydrogen or derived biofuels, ammonia) and
• Electrical (super-capacitors and cryogenic super-conducting magnets), will provide long-term energy-storage solutions.
• Unlocking economies of scale is a prerequisite for integrating high levels of variable renewable energy sources.
• It will not be possible without the development, transfer, and deployment of a full range of emerging technologies in energy storage through collaborative actions to realize a cost-effective and time-bound transition along with the development of a diversified renewable-energy supply chain.

2. Energy Transportation

• Decarbonizing of the economy requires more cohesive action toward transforming hard-to-abate sectors, including power, transportation, fertilizers, cement, steel, real estate, aviation, and agriculture.
• The world’s big CO₂-emitting sectors are:
• Energy systems (34%),
• Industry (24%),
• Agriculture (22%),
• Transport (15%) and
• Buildings (6%).

How Hydrogen can solve issues related to energy transportation?

• Hydrogen will offer a solution for industrial and transport needs that are hard to meet through direct electrification, mitigating close to 12% and 26% of CO2 emissions, respectively.
• Benefits:
• Energy basket diversified,
• Increase in energy security, and
• Reduced import dependency.
• India presently contributes about 10% to global hydrogen demand and there is a strong desire to shift to green fuels including biofuels, green hydrogen, and green ammonia.
• Global demand for green hydrogen: It is projected to be 100 million metric tonnes (MMT) by 2030, of which about 10% could be satisfied by India.

What does India need to do to achieve this?

• There is a critical need to scale up the production and deployment of high-performance electrolyzers from the existing 2-4GW per annum capacity to 25-30GW per annum in the next 3-5 years.
• There is a need to address cost economics, ensure that regulations are in place, and see that adequate private and public finance is provided, with the required supply-chain arrangements and necessary backup infrastructure to go with it.

3. Energy Consumption

• Sustainable energy consumption also has a major role to play in the energy transition.
•  ‘Lifestyle for Environment’ (LiFE), a mantra given by the Indian Prime Minister at the CoP-26 summit, there is an urgency to bring about a paradigm shift from mindless and destructive consumption to mindful and deliberate utilization of resources.
• Mission LiFE has had an enthusiastic response from world leaders, who have lauded India’s initiative of blending its spiritual idea of “Vasudhaiva kutumbakam” (the world is a family) to drive a green transformation.

While a shift to clean energy is critical to restrict global warming, it is equally important to remain cognizant of the social and economic impact of any such transition. The movement away from fossil fuels needs to be orderly, time-bound, and by nationally defined development priorities. It must recognize both “existing dependencies” and “existing deprivations.”