InnoBlog: India’s leapfrog towards CleanTech

India’s energy demand is projected to double over the next 20 years. Electricity demand could potentially triple as a result of increased appliance ownership and cooling needs. Fossil fuel resources have been critical to India’s growth story, and they account for more than 75 percent of India’s power needs.

But the impending global climate crisis coupled with the need for indigenous and affordable energy sources is driving India to rethink its existing energy systems. In this context, India stands at a critical juncture as it lays the groundwork for one of the world’s largest power systems.

India’s efforts towards pivoting away from fossil fuels has been gaining traction with the deployment of renewable energy having doubled over the last five years and already representing close to 40% of the power generation capacity of the country. But India’s mission to decarbonise its energy system has just started as more than 80 % of the carbon emissions stem from coal which remains the backbone of the country’s power sector.

Read more +

India announced its ambitions to achieve a net-zero target by 2070 at the Glasgow COP26 summit. This target was coupled by an ambitious goal of expanding India’s non-fossil fuel power generation by 5 times within this decade and limiting fossil-fuel generation capacity to 50 percent. This transition is a huge opportunity for India and it could attract up to $500 billion.

As the power, industry and transport sectors account for 90% of the country’s carbon emissions, these sectors will witness the largest investment inflows. They also have the potential to unlock a significant number of domestic jobs. To kick-off the clean transition, India is already walking the talk by announcing $3 billion worth of production linked incentive schemes to drive the domestic manufacturing of solar panels and advanced batteries. The Government has also announced similar incentives for clean tech auto manufacturing. These initiatives clearly signal India’s ambition to become the cleantech factory of the world.

There are early signs that the cleantech revolution in India is growing. This is also evident by the massive investments pouring into the sector despite the pandemic. The largest company (by revenue) of the country, Reliance Industries, has announced an ambitious foray into clean energy involving more than $10 billion over three years. The investment will help set up four gigafactories to make solar panels, hydrogen, fuel cells and batteries. The company aims to enable 100 GW of solar energy across India by 2030. Similar ambitions have been set by the Adani Group, one of India’s largest private power producers.

But India’s cleantech story needs a large and specialised work force. It is estimated that building renewable energy assets to get to 500 GW of non-fossil fuel energy by 2030 can create more than 3 million jobs. But as per recent findings, only 5000 people in India are formally trained to cater to the climate tech industry which includes renewable energy engineering as well. There are close to no university programmes in India focused on climate-related sciences. So, students interested in the topic pursue their education abroad, like I did!

I faced these challenges back in 2011 when I decided to study a master’s in renewable energy. Following a thorough research of universities across North America and Europe, I discovered that EIT InnoEnergy offered the most advanced and new age programmes tailored to specialise in renewable energy technologies. The expertise I gained during my EIT Master's programme catapulted my career by opening up an excellent career opportunity in New York, U.S.A.

The leading-edge training and the global outlook I received during the EIT InnoEnergy programmes helped me lead an international career in more places like Philippines and Canada. It also laid the foundation upon which I was recognised as one of the top 30 under 30 sustainability leaders in Canada!

India’s journey in the cleantech space is just kicking-off. I witnessed the rapid revolution of the clean tech industry over the last decade which compelled me to return to India. Since my return to India in 2020, I am witnessing massive opportunities across the domain despite the pandemic. If you are a young student looking to join an exciting and growing industry, then you are in the right place!

By Arjun Gupta, EIT InnoEnergy alumni

Read less -

23 February 2022. 15.00 CET. EIT InnoEnergy Master School Virtual Open Day is the best way to get a real taste of university life and one step closer to finding your ideal programme in sustainable energy engineering!

Meeting EIT InnoEnergy Master School team, learning about career prospects and interacting with our universities, will give you the confidence and clarity you will need to thrive from day one! The event will close with a Q&A session offering you an opportunity to directly interact with all presenters!

Sing up

SHAPE YOUR FUTURE IN SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

Check out our programmes