A report by the International Energy Agency highlighted that Indian energy sector would need to spend another US$1.4 trillion to implement clean energy technologies as well as be on a sustainable trajectory for the next 20 years.
The report titled “India Energy Outlook 2021” also mentioned that the expenditure is about 70 per cent more than what the government has envisioned under its current policy. Nevertheless, the investment would offer enormous benefits, including savings on its oil import bill of the same magnitude.
As its economy continues to grow, India is expected to witness the most considerable rise in energy demand of any nation worldwide over the next two decades.
According to the study, growth, industrialization, and an expanding urban population would increase their energy usage. It raises the question of how best to meet the demand without expensive energy imports, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
India will need widespread process electrification, higher material and energy production, the use of technologies such as carbon capture, and a move towards increasingly lower-carbon fuels. Such transitions will involve significant advances in engineering, powerful alliances and large sums of capital on a scale no nation has accomplished in history.
All approaches to successful global transitions to clean energy go through India. In the paper, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the stakes could not be higher for India and the world. The report further said that India’s combined import bill for fossil fuels is expected to triple, with oil the most considerable portion for over the next two decades. Domestic oil and gas production continues to fall behind consumption, and net reliance on imported oil will grow from 75 per cent today to above 90 per cent by 2040.
