Report: Karnataka, Gujarat making most progress in shift to clean power

Source: The post is based on the article “Report: Karnataka, Gujarat making most progress in shift to clean power” published in Indian Express on 28th February 2023

What is the News?

Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis(IEEFA) along with EMBER has released a report — ‘Indian States Energy Transition’.

What is the purpose of the report?

The report has analyzed a total of 16 Indian states which account for 90% of the country’s annual power consumption.

It has measured the performance of these states in four dimensions: 1) decarbonisation 2) performance of the power system 3) readiness of the power ecosystem and 4) policies and political commitments.

These dimensions help in tracking how much a state is prepared to shift away from fossil-fuel based power plants, its capability to incentivise the green market and its government policy to push for power sector decarbonisation.

What are the key findings of the report?

Top State in clean electricity transition: Karnataka is the only state among the 16 analyzed states that scored well across all four dimensions of clean electricity transition.

– It has been an early adopter of renewable energy through proactive policies around open access, solar park development and public awareness.The state fared the best in decarbonising its power sector and has the highest share of renewables in its power supply mix(48%).

Other states: Gujarat was a little behind Karnataka in terms of decarbonising its electricity sector. 

– Rajasthan is second only to Karnataka with renewables supplying 29% of the state’s power mix. 

– Maharashtra with the highest power demand in India was found to be mid-table mainly due to slow renewable energy uptake in the state and the inability to shut down older polluting coal power plants.Its renewable energy share(11%) is lower than most other states.