Study shows why India should increase renewable energy target of 2030
Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have just released a study that demonstrates why India should double down on renewables.
The study examines electricity and carbon mitigation costs associated with achieving aggressive renewable energy targets in India’s electricity grid in 2030, and finds that wind-majority or balanced wind-solar targets have the most cost-effective potential for power in India.
Researcher Ranjit Deshmukh, and co-authors Duncan Callaway and Amol Phadke, reveal in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that building significant numbers of wind and solar plants (600 GW) will reduce how often fossil fuel power plants must run.
This will hold India’s 2030 electricity emissions at its 2018 level, at costs comparable to a fossil fuel-dominated grid while nearly doubling the supply of electricity.
As costs decrease, battery storage can cost-effectively avert the need for new fossil fuel power plants. These findings stem from an exhaustive analysis of India’s power usage, weather patterns and energy infrastructure.
