Renewable energy for electricity use in India: Evidence from India’s smart cities mission

Abstract

• Analyses 45 Indian cities on renewable energy (RE) for electricity supplies and consumption. • Results show that the penetration of RE in Indian cities is low. • Discusses the successful RE practices of best performing Indian cities. • Discusses the RE-Grid integration prospects and solutions in Indian context. • Presents technical, policy and regulatory recommendations for higher RE adoption. Cities influence climate change since they consume large amounts of energy leading to higher carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions and environmental degradation. The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis establishes that renewable energy consumption in India can significantly offset CO 2 emissions. The application of the “Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF)” on the use of renewable energy (RE) for electricity in 45 Indian cities under smart city mission and its results are presented here. The analysis show that the penetration of RE in cities is low. Apart from electricity generation within cities, the best performing ones could successfully harness RE from outside city limits through regulatory incentives. The potential and strategies to harness more RE in cities is presented. The challenges in higher RE adoption in cities and required policy recommendations are also discussed.