According to the IEA, India is estimated to account for 25% of the global energy demand growth over the next two decades, given the country’s rising GDP and its growing energy needs. By 2040, India’s power from solar energy will equal coal-fired generation. Currently, coal still accounts for nearly 70% of the total energy generation mix in India, while solar stands at a modest 4%. But this ratio is set to change to 1:1 by 2040. India is on track to exceed its Paris agreement commitments.

The Indian government’s push to adopt solar power and the falling costs of solar energy will lead to an increased pace of solar power installations in the country. Given the country’s ambitious solar targets, falling costs, and rising energy demand, India has the potential to drive future energy demand growth globally. IEA also said that India could add 140-200 GW of battery capacity by 2040. The country is also projected to become the second-largest emitter of carbon dioxide which could rise to as much as 50% by 2040.

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Though the country aims at increasing its renewable energy outreach, it still has a long long way to go to reduce its overall carbon footprint. IEA also commented that the current pollution policies in the country are inadequate and Indian utilities still do not care to adopt pollution cutting measures or clean air policies. It estimated the death rate as a result of increasing pollution, to increase to 1.4 million by 2040 from the current mark of nearly 2,00,000 annually.

Other observations by IEA:

• India’s oil demand is expected to rise to 8.7 million barrels per day in 2040 from about 5 million bpd in 2019
• LNG imports are expected to rise to 124 billion cubic metres accounting for more than 60% of overall gas demand by 2040
• India’s oil import bill will increase to $181 billion by 2030 and to $255 billion by 2040 compared with 2019
• India will be the world’s third-biggest energy consumer, behind China and the U.S., by 2030
• Electricity consumption is expected to exceed the total energy demand by 2040

Data Source: Mint