What are the challenges faced by the state governments in transitioning to a greener future? List some initiatives towards this end and some possible solutions to overcome the challenges.

India aims to achieve the target of net zero by 2070 through its nationally determined contributions. The country is going through a phase of energy transition and diversify its energy basket for sustainable development.

The energy transition refers to the shift of the energy sector from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. However, this transition has its own set of challenges.

India’s targets:

• Providing 24×7 power supply to all households.
• Installing 175 GW of what is noble energy by the end of 2022.
• 40% of India’s installed capacity through renewables by 2030.
• Creation of additional carbon sink of 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest and tree cover.
• Presently India is the world’s third largest renewable energy producer.

Challenges:

• Financial crunches and bad financial health of DISCOMs in India.
• Reliance on imports particularly for solar cells.
• Policy uncertainty.
• Owing to India’s growth and increasing energy demands, India is increasing its reliance on fossil fuels along with increasing renewable energy.
• The share of energy from coal is still more than half of the total capacity of India. Replacing it and transitioning from coal to greener alternatives will take a long time and huge investment.
• Renewable energy sources like solar, wind, tide, etc are dependent on weather conditions.
• Land acquisition issues for setting up large solar and wind energy plants.
• Installation of turbines for wind energy has caused considerable damage to nearby ecosystems.

Way forward:

India has made considerable progress in increasing renewable energy in the past decade. It has surely pushed India on the road to cleaner and greener future. However, a lot more needs to be done to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, especially coal.