Prime minister Modi announced ‘Panchamrit’ -five-point agenda at the COPE 26, Glasgow on 1 st November 2021 as per which India will achieve net zero carbon emission by 2070 In the same day 1 st November 2021 Government announced ramping up CIL’s coal production from last year’s 592 million Tons to 1 billion Tons by 2023. This may look contradictory to the announcement made by Prime Minister at COPE 26, but if we investigate the latest power crisis then it will be clear that both are equally important in continuing India’s economic development and India’s commitment in addressing the climate goal. During April 2022 it is estimated that 1.9 billion units or 6% of the total demand making it the worst electricity shortage in over 6 years. Globally coal power rose by 9% in 2021 to 10,042TWh a new all-time high and 2% above previous record set in 2018. Immediately to address this crisis in a sustainable way there is a need for substantial capacity addition through Roof Top Solar (RTS) preferably with microgrid with four-hour storage. MOEF target of 40 GW RTS can be fulfilled within a year thus a beginning can be made at decarbonization including minimize such crisis. Per capita electricity consumption of India which was 1181Kwh in 2018-19 against world average of 3260 Kwh is projected to grow close to the world average by the year 2050. Resilience, efficiency, and sustainability must be at the centre of the energy strategy and Microgrids with solar and biogas combination through Distributed Energy Resource (DER) provide an alternative means to derive electrical power without placing additional pressure on fossil fuel-based supplies.
Keyword:: COPE 26, Roof Top Solar (RTS), Capita Electricity Consumption, Microgrids, Biogas, Distributed Energy Resource (DER)s
Rabindra Nath Sen