Why India's Power Future is Green – 30% of Electricity Additions to come from Renewable Sources in next 5 years

The different forms of Renewable Energy are Solar,Wind,Nuclear,Hydro,Tidal,Biomass and Geothermal Energy. Renewable energy sources are more environment- friendly with less pollution & global warming effects. There is an unlimited supply & hence the costs are also low.

The Indian government has given the plan for Renewable Energy Generation targets over the 5 year period between 2012 and 2017. According to the plan, around 30 GW of renewable energy power will be added over the next 5 years. With a total power addition target of 100 GW , this implies that 30% of the power will come from green sources. Considering that India currently has only 12-13% of its power capacity coming from cleantech sources, this is a major change. Wind and Solar Power will be taking the lead with 15 GW and 10 GW of power capacity with around 2-3 GW each from small hydro and biomass.

However even this target is quite small considering that in Europe, the majority of the new power capacity is being added from renewable energy sources. Europe added nearly 20 GW from solar power alone in 2011. Compared to China, the target looks even smaller because the Chinese have a target of adding 20 GW each year from wind power alone . This means that India’s entire power capacity build up in a year will be matched by Chinese wind power capacity build. India with a massive power deficit, needs to increase its growth target for not only green power but the total power as well. Currently India’s Electricity comes mostly from Coal and Hydro Based Energy. Almost 50% of Energy Requirements and 53% of the Electricity is generated from Coal. Renewable Energy forms only 7.7% of the Capacity with around 11 GW of the 16 GW from Wind Energy. Nuclear Energy is around 3% of the total capacity at around 4.5 GW. The country’s top Power companies are growing exponentially.

Green Investing in India makes a great theme but investing in specific CleanTech companies is a tough task. Some of the biggest Renewable Energy Companies have led to serious losses. However Renewable Energy in India has a great future and a rising tide will lift all boats. Note the list of solar power companies is growing by the day while there a number of wind energy companies in India as well. Suzlon Energy is the biggest Wind Energy Company by far with 4-5 Gigawatts of WTG Capacity per year. Moser Baer, primarily a Solar Panel Production Company has also made a big bet to get into the Power Production Space as well. Tata BP Solar, which is the biggest private utility in India, has big plans for Clean Energy as well. NTPC,  the biggest utility in India will obviously be a big renewable energy generator in the future.