India has ascended to a third position in the “Renewable Energy Country Attractive Index” (RECAI)” released by EY on Wednesday. Country has shown improvement as it was ranked 4th in the previous index. It is due to an outstanding performance on the solar photovoltaic (PV) front.
EY views on India’s performance
“India’s solar sector is expected to grow significantly post the Covid-19 pandemic, with generation from Solar PV forecast to exceed coal before 2040”.
Also it added, “This dramatic change has been driven by the Indian government’s policy ambitions, which has led solar PV to be the most cost competitive source of power in the region and improving further with time”.
Reasons for India’s Good performance
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India has moved one position ahead compared to previous index in 2020 because The installed solar capacity in India escalated nearly 12 percent to 39 GW in FY 2020-21. It surpassed the wind capacity for the first time.
“The economic attractiveness of solar PV and intense competition from the private sector has led to record low tariff bids in India,” said Somesh Kumar, Partner and National Leader, Power and Utilities, EY India.
India also said that it will execute 450 GW for renewable energy power capacity by 2030 in the recent climate summit hosted by US.
According to Somesh Kumar This will lead to increased share of renewable energy in the overall power generation installed capacity of 54%, with regard to share in overall gross generation to 36%.
However there is another opportunity for India in an upcoming 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference to bridge the gap between what government has promised and what they have implemented till date.
Role of Investors
According to Ben Warren, EY Global Power and Utilities Corporate Finance Leader and RECAI Chief Editor, the pandemic on economies worldwide has made the investors to emphasize on environmental, social and corporate governance agenda. Hence there is an increasing trend towards focusing on climate crisis and the energy transition when delegating capital.
First and Second Positions in EY Index
Meanwhile US and China have remained in the first and second positions. US is expected to reinforce its first position under US President Joe Biden. As there is a reacceptance of the Paris Accord. Also US made a recent announcement to cut green house gases levels by 50-52 per cent by 2030. Further, US has planned to achieve 100 percent carbon free power by 2035.
According to a report, China also remained a buoyant market and maintains second position. It added 72.4 GW of new wind power in 2020.
Thus it can be seen alongwith US and China, India has improved its performance by maintaining the 3rd rank. In 2020 investments grew by 2 per cent to USD 303.5 billion in global renewable energy capacity. These figures are the second highest annual figure recorded till date even there was a pandemic. This is 57th Renewable Energy Country Attractive Index released by EY globally.