India’s renewable deployment has accelerated in recent years thanks to the government’s target of 175 GW of installed capacity by 2022 and dramatic cost declines that have made variable renewable sources competitive with existing coal generation. However, increasing generation from wind and solar is not just about reducing carbon emissions. Clean power generation represents an opportunity to transform the country’s fragmented electricity sector and facilitate new investment in clean energy, flexibility resources and supporting infrastructure. In fact, only a clean energy system can deliver efficient, reliable and affordable electricity for India’s growing population of 1.3 billion. The country is already the world’s third-largest consumer of electricity after China and the US, and electricity demand is expected to roughly double by 2030. While there are no shortages of efforts to bring clean, reliable and affordable energy to the growing number of consumers in India who will have higher expectations of chilled food, air-conditioned homes and appliances that will work when they need them, the integration of renewables, the inefficiencies and challenges in the system require coordinated efforts. Climate Policy Initiative Energy Finance, a leading research and advisory group focused on energy markets, finance and policy, has taken a significant first step on this collaborative journey. In 2017, we published Flexibility: the path to low-carbon, low-cost electricity grids, which was commissioned by the Energy Transitions Commission. We found that within a few years a system powered by the sun and wind would be cheaper than a fossil-based system. This work took a high-level view of the role of flexibility in developing energy transition strategies for power systems. In India, we are taking this work further to analyse India’s specific needs and opportunities to build a national strategy. As with our global project, our analysis of the flexibility challenge in India suggests that a flexible, high renewables system may also be cheaper than meeting demand growth by burning more coal. Alongside our partners at Energy Transitions Commission India (ETC India) and a consortium comprising The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in Delhi and the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) we have developed analytical insights and recommendations in support of India’s ambitious renewable energy goals. In February, we published a report with these findings, Developing a roadmap to a flexible, low-carbon Indian electricity system. Our approach: In that report, we explored how India’s ambitious renewable targets may be met through an integrated approach to flexibility which combines demand management, energy storage technologies and adaptation of dispatchable fleet. We found that under a high renewables scenario, India could integrate 390 gw of wind and solar generation by 2030, an increase of more than 40 per cent above the current renewable energy trajectory, at a cost that is lower than that of the current trajectory. In that work, we looked at four types of flexibility needs: • Reserve capacity in case a power plant or transmission line suddenly fails, or if demand unexpectedly surges • Ramping capacity that is fast enough to meet expected sharp increases in demand, such as when the sun sets and consumers turn on their lights or air-conditioners at once • Daily balancing of supply and demand, for example, solar energy may produce more energy than is needed in the middle of the day, but demand may peak in the evenings when it’s not available • Seasonal balancing of supply and demand to meet annual cycles, for instance, when hot summers or seasonal industries drive up electricity demand, or during rainy seasons that correspond with high wind generation
