India is making rules that will encourage companies to switch entirely to renewable power, a key step toward decarbonizing the nation’s fossil fuel-dominated economy.
Accelerating use of clean energy in offices and factories, the largest power consuming segment in the country, will be key to achieving targets to cut emissions per unit of the GDP.
It will also help the companies improve their environment, social and governance — or ESG — scores by reducing their carbon footprint.
The new rules will allow companies to purchase renewable electricity from state distributors at “green tariffs.” Hurdles for businesses seeking to buy clean power directly from generators will also be eased.
According to the new rules those opting for green power will be allowed open access — when they aren’t tied down to the local distributor — within 15 days, instead of having to wait for months. That would force state utilities to either meet the demand or risk losing their high-value customers.
Separately, India will promote offshore wind projects to get to its 2030 goal of 450 gigawatts of renewables capacity, a near five-fold expansion from current levels so as to over come the shortage of land which is hampering the wind power growth. The 450 GW goal include 280 gigawatts of solar and 140 gigawatts of wind capacity.
Reference- MNRE, Business Standard, JMK Research, BloombergNEF summit