It’s the year to turbocharge our renewable-energy drive

News: 2021 saw the world joining hands to mitigate climate risks. 2022 will need a doubling down of efforts to achieve the renewable energy targets that were recently reset by India.

What is the way forward?

Govt needs to take the following key measures in 2022 to enable the Renewable Energy (RE) sector to accelerate its capacity expansion and innovate rapidly.

– Protect Contracts: Ensuring contractual sanctity is critical to ensure certain states don’t question signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) or inordinately delay payments to RE players. If PPA contracts are not honoured, it impacts the business climate in any sector. While substantive legal precedents exist in the power sector for enforcement of contracts, the Centre can work more closely with states to ensure greater adherence to contracts.

– Battery storage systems: These will go a long way in addressing the challenge of intermittency of RE sources and improve the generation profile of renewable energy projects.

– Moreover, as the share of renewables in the country’s energy mix increases, there will be a need to improve grid flexibility and enhance transmission networks.

Source: This post is based on the article “It’s the year to turbocharge our renewable-energy drive” published in Livemint on 7^th Jan 2022.