What if the challenge is not the power lines… but the power struggles behind them?

Now the question is: Can India handle its own energy crisis?

What if the energy that powers Indian development today is the same energy that we are using which is propelling us into climate catastrophe?

That is what keeps me up at night, not only as a policy-maker, but for my identity, and in the fact that because I careers a climate urgent Indian sitting at the crossroads of climate urgency and economic ambition. I know that the discussion is not to decarbonize, but how soon and how effectively can we do that?

A Long-Term Commitment, A Short Time Frame

India has made its intentions clear on the global stage. At the COP26 summit in Glasgow we committed to net zero emissions by 2070. This is not an empty promise. It is backed by earmarked targets for 2030:

• 500 GW of non-fossil fuel electricity generation capacity 50% of total energy requirements from renewable sources 1 billion tonnes of carbon emissions 45% reduction in carbon intensity compared to 2005 levels

Certainly , this has been a fantastic start. We have gone above 198 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity, much of it from solar, wind, and hydro, and the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of the renewable energy sector has been 8.6% from 2015 to 2024.

Where Policy and Paradox Collide

What the technical transition does not reveal to you are the non-machine related problems - those problems that are based in mechanisms.

1. The limiting factor of decentralisation. Renewable energy has to be owned at a community level, and yet the choices about ownership are still very much at the direct discretion of centralised bodies.
2. The continued battle of State v Centre. Energy is a concurrent subject in India. This bipolar capacity tends to inhibit and ambush the reform process.
3. Land acquisition issues are running solar and wind projects into the ground. Where is the social governance innovation to overcome this block on the road?
4. The grid infrastructure is ineffectual, and cannot absorb what it needs to from a decentralised infrastructure perspective. We can generate it but if we can transfer seamlessly .
5. Carbon trading policy? We are still an evolving space. There is a regulation, but none can be enforced in a meaningful way.

The challenge is not desire: it is permission, legacy rules, and fragmentation that is at the heart of the challenge.