Coal-fired TPPs remain a key source of electricity for India: last year, they accounted for 75% of the country’s power output, whereas solar panels accounted for a mere 6%. However, India’s plans for the development of renewable energy are quite ambitious: Indian regulators plan to increase the installed capacity of renewables from last year’s 176 GW to 500 GW by 2030. Partial deregulation of nuclear energy is also planned: last year, India’s Atomic Energy Commission issued a recommendation to allow foreign companies to participate in the construction of NPPs not only as technology suppliers, but also as shareholders participating in the distribution of profits.
HPPs will continue to be an important component of the energy mix, including pumped-storage power plants (PSPPs), which make it possible to utilize excess electricity by pumping water from a lower reservoir to an upper one, from which the water is discharged during the hours of high demand. Last year, India’s Torrent Power signed an agreement to build three PSPPs with a total capacity of 5.7 GW in the state of Maharashtra in central India. The project will help reduce emissions from the domestic power industry, which is characterized by high carbon intensity.
According to Ember, India is an outsider among the largest BRICS countries in terms of greenhouse gas emissions per megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity generated. In 2023, Brazil produced an average of 96 kg of CO2 equivalent in greenhouse gases per 1 MWh, compared to Russia’s 445 kg per MWh and India’s 713 kg per MWh.
