Madhya Pradesh Could Become A Hero State in India's Energy Transition Plan

India has a huge power demand given its high population and economic growth. However, the country relies a great deal on oil imports to keep the economy moving. India’s predominant source of power is fossil fuels which it imports from the world. This has led to both environmental pollution and a rise in import bills.  Given the recent global energy crisis, countries worldwide are planning to strengthen their own energy infrastructure to reduce dependence on other countries. India had already made huge commitments towards doing its part in reducing climate change concerns. The renewable energy pro-government at the center further designed policies and made targets to achieve this end.

Currently, India is aiming to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2070 and increase its renewable energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030. The country is the fourth largest when it comes to the installed capacity of 147 GW and the third largest renewable energy producer in the world. India installed 40% of its renewable capacity in 2022 alone. Now, how can the central state of Madhya Pradesh play an important role in India’s energy transition plan? The state has a good geographical location and rich natural resources. MP has high solar insolation and its central location makes it ideal for wind and solar installations. The state has a potential for 820 MW of small hydro, 11 GW of wind, 61 GW of solar, and 11 GW of biomass energy, according to MNRE. MP also has huge rivers which makes it a potential generator of hydropower. To further incentivize producers, the state provides attractive incentives to renewable energy producing companies, such as exemption in electricity duty and energy development Cess, reimbursement of state duty, land on concessional rates, waiver of wheeling charges, etc.

Madhya Pradesh has vowed to supply 20,000 MW of renewable energy-sourced electricity to neighboring states by 2030. Madhya Pradesh is also a part of the Green Energy Corridor. The state has already made massive strides in contributing towards the overall country’s energy demand like Solar Power from MP to drive New Delhi Metro Trains, Rewa Solar park in Madhya Pradesh, Solar Rooftop Policy to promote Make in India, etc.