6 states shine in green energy push, India weighed down by fossil fuel

Karnataka was among the six Indian states where the share of wind and solar energy in total electricity generation was way better than the global average of 12% even as India's overall performance failed to hit the mark, an analysis of data from 78 countries by global energy think tank Ember said.

Goa led the list with 77.95% of the energy coming from solar and wind followed by Rajasthan (35.93%), Gujarat (29.76%), Karnataka (27.52%), Tamil Nadu (22.2%) and Andhra Pradesh (19.12%).

The share of wind and solar in India's total energy production reached a record high of 9%. However, the country accounted for the third largest power sector emissions in the world, behind China and the United States, in 2022. Though its per capita electricity demand of 1.3 MWh is lower than the global average of 3.5 MWh, India's electricity generation is 45% more carbon intensive than the global average. This is mainly due to dependence on coal and gas for 74% of its energy needs.

Read | PFC, IISc tie up for new energy research facility

"India's clean electricity transition journey has now reached a critical juncture. The country needs to build upon its recent solar power surge. It needs to ramp up renewable generation capacity to meet its growing demand, build enough storage capacity to meet peak demand and develop infrastructure to facilitate grid integration. These are all big challenges but they need to be addressed for India to achieve its 500 GW non-fossil capacity by 2030," Aditya Lolla, senior electricity policy analyst at Ember said.

The 78 countries assessed by Ember account for 93% of the electricity demand and showed that carbon intensity of global electricity generation fell from 441 gCO2 in 2021 to a record low of 436 gCO2/kwh in 2022. "This was due to record growth in wind and solar, which reached 12% share in the global electricity mix, up from 10% from 2021," the report said.
However, the absolute amount of emissions from electricity increased by 160 million tonnes of CO2 compared to last year as the increase in power consumption led to 11% increase in fossil generation by 183 TWh.

"Electricity sector needs to move from being the highest emitting sector to being the first sector to reach net zero emissions globally by 2040 so that the world has a chance to achieve the economy-wide net zero by 2050," the report said, cautioning that the present work was not enough.