Factors impacting wind and solar power sectors in India: A survey-based analysis

Abstract

India is projected to be among the top three energy-consuming countries by 2030. Even with a low per capita consumption, it is ranked fourth in terms of carbon emissions. Though India has made progress in terms of deploying renewables as part of its climate commitments, there has been a temporal and regional variation in terms of installed capacity. The paper aims to identify the drivers and challengers impacting the solar and wind power sectors in India through an expert survey. Thirty-four sector experts representing ministries, federal agencies, renewable companies, investor groups, financial institutions and civil society responded to a questionnaire using a ‘Likert Scale’, encompassing all possible factors which would have influenced these two sectors. Response depicted an even distribution of score, with experts endorsing policies like feed-in-tariff, auctions and tax depreciation and the requirement of a strong grid network to assimilate variable power. Commercial and infrastructure variables like cost of capital, credit worthiness of utility, land and road network were marked high. Experts envisaged heightened role of green power in future which may have to compete in open power markets sans any policy support. This analysis may be used for improving the effectiveness of Indian climate policies.